


Visitation

by Dexter1995



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Family, Friendship, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:07:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25138969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dexter1995/pseuds/Dexter1995
Summary: It's 2 months after the race ended and Emma is settling into her life as a law school student. Constantly buried in her studies, she seems determined to avoid any distraction... until someone shows up to make her take a break. I don't own anything. All rights go to Tom McGillis and Fresh TV.
Relationships: Emma/Noah (Total Drama)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay… so this is a random concept I decided to write. Lately I've been doing deep dives on cartoons I watched back in the day. One of those being the Total Drama series. Although, recently I rewatched The Ridonculous Race that came out in my sophomore year of college, at the time I kinda watched but didn't fully get into it when it premiered due to my medical science courses in college taking up my time. But after the dumpster fire that is Total Dramarama aired… I decided to go back and watch all the previous seasons now that I'm graduated from university and have time now, more specifically The Ridonculous Race. After really watching it and paying attention, I actually really enjoyed it! Specifically, I really got into a lot of the character interactions and got a lot of new personal favorites! Honestly, I really liked the sisters team in their own way. I actually could really see Kitty and Emma integrated into the original show format of just a straight up reality show and think they could easily interact with the original cast fairly well. Now I think you probably know where this is going… but when they paired Emma and Noah, it was one of the cutest and funniest things I have watched in a long time. XD Noah has always been one of my favorite characters from the show since he always had great one liners and his sarcastic and cynical attitude reminded me of Daria which I loved, particularly in TDWT. Now for all you Noco shippers, that's cool and enjoy your ship! But, I like relationships that have a build up to them and I really liked how they pulled it off in the show with the time and resources they had. It was both hilarious and kind of cool seeing Noah putting his usual front down and both of them having this quirky awkwardness about them whenever they interacted with each other. Noah would just become a fumbling mess at times (Almost like he was actually discovering he had other human emotions. Lol XD) with not keeping certain thoughts internalized and Emma being a bit of a mess herself by being a person who looks too far ahead with everything, especially her crushes, and freaks herself out over it. Her whole rant about how if she told Noah she liked him during the race in the early stages, that it would snowball into her and Kitty losing and not being able to pay for law school or keep her relationship going with Noah until it ended with her crying into a bowl of cereal… honestly, my thought process can be pretty similar and as ridiculous sometimes and I kinda relate to that. Haha. XD Anyway, I just really liked this pairing and think they really suit each other. I really wanted to write fanfiction for them since I haven't seen much for them in that particular regard as one of the few officially dating TD couples that are still together. And also, I'm a healthcare professional looking for creative writing outlets in my spare time to curb my stress at the moment. Particularly, I wanted to write an aftermath kind of situation for them. At the end of the season, Noah and Owen got asked to be on a new show once they got eliminated from the race and since nothing more about that show came out afterward, I have this head canon of Brody and Geoff keeping their promise to split the money and gave Kitty and Emma a cut of their winnings. So I saw Kitty just giving most of her share to Emma for law school and Emma probably went right into her first semester of law school after the show. So, in the long and short of it… here's some Nemma material for all you fellow Nemma shippers! Enjoy!

**(Emma's POV)**

I kept scanning over all the books on my desk before looking up at the planner sheet on the wall.

"Okay, that wraps up studying for criminal law… now for elements of law." I said to myself, trying to keep myself on task.

Not that I was complaining. I've wanted to be a lawyer and get into law school for as far back as I could remember. If you ask Kitty, I pretty much always put a plan in my mind for almost anything and everything that I hardly keep my head in the present.

Then again Kitty lives so much in the present that she hardly thinks about her future which would drive me crazy.

I glanced over at the picture of the two of us during the one of many selfies she dragged me into with her during the show. I smirked a little at it to myself. Hey, my sister may have her faults, but I did appreciate her giving me her cut of the money so I could put it toward school… and for giving me a _push_ for _other things_ during the race.

I activated my phone to check the time and also to check for _something else_. But upon seeing nothing, I just sighed and tried to clear my head.

Maybe I need to take a _little_ break to collect my thoughts?

At this point Kitty would probably be trying to rip me away from my desk and force me to go out and have fun instead studying the entire weekend.

Sure I _probably_ could take a break since I have no exams coming up until next week on Friday and am already working ahead.

But, I don't want to take any chances.

I worked WAY too hard to get here and if I slack at any point… I'm going to get off track, flunk out, have to move back in at home, end up living in the basement, and have to be dependent on my parents for most of my adult life like a totally pathetic loser.

And NO WAY is _that_ going to happen!

After getting up from the desk in my room, I walked into the kitchen to look for something to drink in the fridge when I heard pounding on the front door of my apartment.

My head shot around the corner as I quirked up an eyebrow.

Remaining an aire of skepticism, I walked toward the door of what this possibly could be? I looked through the peephole to see my neighbor Rachel, looking completely freaked out, just in time for her to yell, "Emma! Emma! Open up!"

I sighed in annoyance and finally opened the door before almost getting punched in the face by her excessively aggressive and annoying pounding on my door with her fist.

"Rachel, WHAT? And if your response is anything except the building being on fire or someone trying to kill you, then leave me alone. I don't want to go out, I don't want to go to your game nights, and I don't want to have the landlord charge me if you did any damage to my door. I told you a thousand times, I'm focused on studying." I spouted, fed up.

Okay, I know, I'm a bit antisocial to begin with kind of, but… I'm just more of an introvert.

I like people to just leave me alone to my own devices most of the time for my own focus and all Rachel has done from day 1 of me moving in 2 months ago is trying to get me to hang out with her since I'm the only girl other than her on our floor.

And she asks me to hang out with her at least twice a day even though I have said 'no thanks' every time.

Look, I was nice in the beginning, but after she woke me up at 11:30 PM on a Thursday to ask if I wanted to come over and play charades with her friends when I had to wake up and be at my class by 7:30 am for a quiz… I drew the line.

I was about to shut the door when she grabbed it and wedged her foot in the way as she said, almost frantic, "Emma, wait! Listen!"

I was so freaked out, I let go of the door and stumbled back as Rachel pushed the door so far in that it collided hard into the wall and left a dent.

It was quiet as I saw her eyes go wide and her hands go over her mouth at what just happened, meanwhile I was on the verge of having an absolute conniption.

"My bad, Emma! I… I'll tell the landlord and pay for that to be fixed." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose between my right forefinger and thumb, trying to channel my stress.

_Trying._

"Rachel… Just tell me what's going on before you break anything else in my apartment." I said, knowing I sounded as vexed and annoyed as I felt.

I think Rachel finally got the hint as she stepped more into the doorway toward the hall as she said, "Sorry Emma it's just… I don't want to freak you out or anything, but… I think you have a stalker."

My head immediately tilted to the side as I quirked up an eyebrow before questioning, still annoyed but now more confused than anything, "What?"

"Like I said, I don't want to freak you out or anything. But there's this guy hanging out by the building entrance who asked me if I knew you and if you lived here after saying he was all over the campus trying to look for you. Then I asked why he didn't just call you, but he said his phone died and he forgot his charger, which sounded totally sketchy." She explained, looking weirded out.

I had no idea what was going on until all of a sudden my thought process came to halt.

_Wait…_

My eyes went wide as my thoughts converged elsewhere as I asked, "Wait, did this guy have brown hair, brown eyes, and was several inches taller than me? Had kind of a slightly deeper voice with a dry tone to it that sounded a little condescending?"

She gave me a look as she just nodded and went, "Um… yeah. Why?"

I wasn't even paying attention as I looked outside my window and looked down toward the street at the entrance of the building from where I lived on the 4th floor.

My facial expression dropped for a second until I felt like screaming and smiling like a total idiot at who I saw.

Noah was standing on the sidewalk, looking around and wait… does he have flowers? I felt like my idiotic smile doubled until I paused for a second.

_What's he doing here? You know what? Who cares?!_

"Yup! I know him! Thanks Rachel!" I said, pushing her out of my apartment and slamming my door and locking it behind me. I could hear Rachel still trying to talk to me as I ran immediately into my room and grabbed my phone and immediately called Kitty.

Sure I could've just gone down to see him, but… ugh, I'm already feeling like a mess and I need some reassurance.

"Come on, come on…" I said through my teeth in an impatient mantra until I heard, "Hey Em, what's going on?"

I didn't even waste time as I just blurted out of nervousness, "Noah's here."

"Wait, what? He's in your apartment?... Oooohhhh, _nice_." She responded, teasing me a little bit and then laughing to herself, causing my face to feel like it was on fire.

I pushed it down and responded, feeling embarrassed and annoyed, "No, he's outside my building. I had no idea he was coming over until my neighbor told me he was here. He has flowers and I'm having a panic attack. Help me, Kit!"

"Oh he got you flowers? That's so cute!" "HELP ME!" I almost demanded as I cut her off, not wasting any time and still feeling like my nerves were practically consuming me at this point.

"Okay, okay!" Kitty responded defensively.

It was quiet and I was getting impatient as I said, " _And…_ " " _And..._ what? What do you want me to say?" "I want YOU to tell ME what to say! Look, I know I'm the most intelligent and athletic one out of the two of us, but I'll admit you're at least better than me when it comes to boys." I admitted.

I could practically hear the slight eye roll in her voice as she replied, "Um, thanks… I guess?"

I completely ignored the response as I kept getting overwhelmed and continuing, "Kitty, I need you to tell me what to say so I don't do anything stupid or weird in front of him."

"Why? You both technically say weird things around each other anyway. Remember the _rickshaw thing_ during the race when the guys helped us? _Emma's very pretty… that was out loud again, wasn't it?_ " She said, doing an exaggerated imitation of Noah's voice at the end.

She started laughing a little at it and I wasn't surprised since she still teases me over Noah by bringing that up.

I just smiled for a second thinking back to that before shaking my head back to reality and to get a grip as I responded, "Yes! I know! But, when Noah does something awkward like that, it's cute. When I do that… well, you know what I'm like. I end up sounding insane and lose my inner monologue when I talk to him. Like talking about our future, wanting to marry him, having children with him, and…"

"Okay, okay! I get it. Look, I don't know what else to tell you? Just try to stay in the moment. He probably randomly came over to see you to surprise you or something, so… just try to stay on topic with that. Just for once, Emma, I want you to shut off the weird future part of your head and just focus on him right now. Besides you've probably done nothing but lock yourself in your room and study when you aren't at class, right? Even though I think you should get out and let loose once in a while." She said, brutally honest, and as much as I wanted to comment on that… ugh, she wasn't wrong.

I stayed silent before countering, "That's not entirely true… I go out to the student union and library sometimes." She didn't even respond but I could feel the judgement coming through the receiver still as I continued, "And I go out to eat somewhere once a week."

I heard Kitty let out a strained groan before saying, "Em, just put down the books for once, chill out, and just go down to see him. Go on a date or show him around or something? Just see him… and then you _have_ to tell me everything later!"

I looked back out the window and saw Noah leaning against the retaining wall outside my building, reading a book with the flowers set aside.

_Ugh, he's so hot when he's reading._

"Emma?" I heard Kitty say, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Thanks sis, I'll call you later." I said before hanging up. I ran over to the mirror in my room to make sure I looked okay before I went outside.

Even though it was pointless in my opinion since I practically started running out of my apartment and down the stairs like a completely deranged mad woman.

Again… don't care!

I still can't believe he's here!

I haven't seen him in person since the finale of the race two months ago and then I pretty much had to get started with law school pretty much right after.

Then Noah and Owen said they were asked to be on another show that was supposed to start this month so we've pretty much just been calling and texting this whole time since that date never ended up happening… well, not really.

I pursed my lips a little at that thought.

Well, we went out and walked around after grabbing a drink, but it just seemed _anticlimactic_ for what I was envisioning for our first date since there wasn't a lot of time.

I got to the ground floor and tried to catch my breath and collect myself, even though he was RIGHT THERE.

 _Okay Emma, you haven't seen him in two months. Just stay calm and say hi to him and don't do or say anything stupid or crazy to freak him out. You don't want another_ Jake situation.

Ugh, I _really_ don't want another _Jake situation_.

I thought my thing with Jake was bad enough, but with Noah… we've hardly gone out or anything, but I've never felt this kind of a connection with a guy until I started to get to know him.

As much as I hate to admit it, Kitty's right.

I can be pretty sarcastic and snarky… okay, I'm a smartass. But so is Noah, him more than me actually. He's pretty much my mental match and not to mention the fact that I am so _physically_ into him that it makes me feel pathetic and weak to completion sometimes even though I also seriously couldn't care less.

I let out a sigh, hoping that would help me get a grip, but… _ugh, he looks so hot._

I smacked myself in the face before scolding myself to focus.

Once I felt like I finally got a hold of myself, I practically held my breath as I opened the door and walked outside. He was still reading and leaning against the retention wall, looking like he was deep in some kind of _zone_.

_Okay, c'mon Emma, remain calm…_

I walked over to him and said, trying to keep my cool, "Hey Noah."

He whipped his head behind at me with a smile spread across his face and almost yelled, "Emma!" He looked like he tried to calm down and clear his throat and collect himself as he regained his composure before attempting to smoothly recover, "I mean, uh… hey Emma."

I had to hold back a laugh. _He's such a dork… ugh, but he's so cute._

He kept looking at me and I couldn't stop myself from looking right back at him too and smiling. We kept doing that until he shook his head and said, reaching behind him, "Hey, uh, I got you something."

He grabbed the flowers I saw he had from the window. They looked like they were roses… or what used to be roses.

They all looked beyond mangled.

"Yeah… long story short, I was looking for you around your campus first, since that seemed like a _great idea_. And then let's just say that _something with_ _birds_ happened… I don't want to talk about it and I get it if you don't want them now. Today really hasn't been good for me. Well you know, until you got here!… I'll stop." He rambled, looking off in a different direction and rubbing the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

I just looked at them for a second and grabbed them as I said, "Thanks Noah, this is… really, really sweet of you." I got closer and gave him a hug.

Honestly, that was an understatement.

Not that I should be _that_ surprised he'd do this since he literally took the time to carve a heart out of ice for me during the competition, but… this is the sweetest thing any guy has ever done for me.

Not that I have had many relationships, mainly because Jake was pretty much my only relationship before Noah and even that only lasted for 4 months with him mostly avoiding me for the last month and a half of it before breaking up with me and putting me off from relationships for 3 years.

But, even that didn't compare to how I felt when I saw how broken I made Noah after I had to temporarily break up with him since he was a distraction for me during the race… even though I _really_ didn't want to deep down and still feel horrible about it sometimes.

I felt him slowly hug me back as I heard him comment, "So, I'm going to take that as you don't care if the flowers look almost as bad as a bathroom Owen uses after a Canada Day barbeque?"

I let out a laugh as I responded, "I don't care."

I just kept thinking it was sweet of him to even do something like this for me.

And if I'm really being honest, he could have given me flowers that were dried out and dead for weeks and I still wouldn't have cared.

I think I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts until something hit me as I finally pulled back from the hug and asked, "Wait, so, what are you doing here? I thought you said that you and Owen got asked to compete on another show?"

Noah shrugged and said, a slight smirk on his face, "Ah, the beauty of delayed production. Everything has been delayed until next month, so I thought I'd drive here to see you and take you out. Considering… we didn't really have time to get a _real_ date last time. Also my brother and his family are starting to drive me insane so I really needed to get out of my parent's house until they're done staying with us after another week before they go back to Vancouver. I can only get blindsided and have my hair pulled by my nephews so many times… and deal with Ben and his wife just laughing about it."

That I know wasn't an understatement.

I still remember being shocked when Noah told me he was the youngest of 9 siblings, and also eluding to how he was kind of a _last minute addition_ since his next oldest sibling is 7 years older than him with his oldest brother Ben being almost 19 years older and how due to that he was an uncle by the time he was 9.

I still remember this time a couple weeks ago that we tried to video call each other and it wasn't 5 minutes before somehow his nephews that he was talking about found him in his room and practically started dragging him away to wrestle with them.

That was also how I ended up kind of sort of meeting his oldest brother, Ben.

And when Noah said he was _different_ from everyone else in his family, he wasn't kidding, at least compared to Ben.

To me, Ben didn't really seem like the _sharpest tool in the shed_ and he looked like he was definitely a former jock in his high school days… big time.

Sure, I was in athletics back in high school too, but they were more of an extracurricular route for me to put on college applications. I also didn't really know how to take it when his brother saw me and then started making jabs at Noah for _how a nerd with a stick so far up his butt like him ended up getting a girl like me._

First off, I didn't know how to really take having his brother say that about me, and also I didn't entirely know what he meant by implying that he thinks Noah's a stiff or something?

Considering Noah's smart ass, moody exterior and personality is actually one of the things I like most about him, even if I denied it in the beginning like everything else.

But at that point, I saw what Noah meant.

Aside from looking like they could be brothers by certain facial features, he and Noah were mentally and physically 2 completely different people. But, Noah said that's how he is compared to all his brothers and sisters.

And I thought me and Kitty were like night and day as siblings.

I paused until a thought hit me.

"Wait… you drove all the way here?" I asked, completely surprised.

I'm living in Toronto while I'm going to law school here in the city and I know Noah said he was from suburban Winnipeg… that's a nearly 22 hour drive!

He nodded and shrugged as he responded, "Yeah, why? Is that so shocking?"

I shook my head and responded, "No! Not really, but… that's a _trip_. You really spent almost an entire day driving here just to see me?"

He gave me this slight crooked smirk before responding, doing that eyebrow quirk thing that drives me crazy in the _best_ way possible.

"Emma, you'd think after I saved you from falling off a building that me driving 22 hours in my car and sleeping at a creepy rest area in between for a couple hours to see you shouldn't be _that_ crazy, right?" He said, actually maintaining his cool and making me feel just… _touched_.

I could feel my thoughts going on a tangent and I immediately put a stop to it, _really_ trying to stick to what Kitty told me.

_I have to stay in the present._

I didn't know what else to say so I said, "Thanks Noah."

I gave him another hug and decided to just go for it as I kissed him on the lips. It was only a peck, but… ugh, it was so hard for me not to want to do more.

At that moment, I think I caught Noah off guard for a second as his whole body froze for a second before he shook his head and cleared his throat before saying, "So, uh… do you want to go out for dinner or something? I know it's only 4:30, but… maybe we can eat and then hang out or see a movie or something?"

It did even take me a second as I said, "Give me 5 minutes. I just need to grab my bag."

I ran back inside immediately and even though there was a part of me that questioned my sanity for ditching studying ahead for my classes to go out with Noah… until I got hung up on going out with Noah and then really didn't care.

I guess one date night couldn't hurt, right?

_**6 hours later** _

I can't believe I was out with Noah for 6 hours.

I took him to this local Greek restaurant I like that I usually go to for breakfast sometimes and then… everything just kind of blurred together.

We ate and then saw a movie on the fly.

It ended up being a horror movie and even though I could tell neither of us thought it was that scary… doesn't mean I didn't pretend to be scared just to have an excuse to hold his hand or snuggle up to him without being too obvious. Then we just walked around and held hands practically the whole time for 2 more hours and the conversation was almost constant.

I asked him about the show he was going on, which I guess is another total drama season, and I told him about my classes.

It was just… _nice_.

I kept looking down at us holding hands as we got back to my apartment building. It was quiet as we got to the entrance and just… stopped.

We kept looking at each other for a second before both of us let out an awkward laugh. We just kept standing there until I decided to break the silence as I said, "Thanks for taking me out, Noah. This was fun."

I was trying so hard to stay calm even though I wanted to tell him this was the best date I've ever been on and just being around him and just… ugh, focus!

"Y-yeah, no problem. Aside from being attacked by geese and my nephew Jason taking my charger before I left, this was awesome." We both just smiled at each other for a second before I decided to just go for it.

I closed the distance a little bit between us and put my hands on his shoulders as I leaned in to kiss him without hesitation.

Sometimes I think about how we ended up having our first kiss on international TV and how I kind of wish we waited until we were off air, but… I don't regret it.

Even though I used kissing him as an incentive to find him in the mountain of rugs when he and Owen got eliminated, but… I just really, really wanted to kiss him at the same time and didn't even care.

Even now I still don't care since we're together and now we can just let things go and not feel pressured with letting things happen.

We held the kiss for a few seconds until I felt him lean into me and slowly put his hands on my sides and I was trying to keep myself from going absolutely insane.

After several more seconds we pulled away and kept looking at each other until Noah looked at the ground, having this _off_ look to him that I haven't seen before until he said, "Uh… I guess, night Emma."

He let go and looked like he was about to walk back to his car when I bit my lip, feeling this impulse. An impulse that I haven't felt before as I stepped forward and started, "Noah?"

He stopped and turned back to face me.

I didn't give myself any time to hesitate as I just went for it and asked straight out, "Do you want to come up?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay… was not expecting this kind of positive feedback in just a few days on this! You all were so incredibly kind and supportive on just the first chapter alone and that literally has made my week seeing the support and kind constructive feedback! Even though the original TD series went dormant a couple years ago, I am still surprised and so happy to see the fandom still this vibrant and I think that's so awesome! Total Drama premiered when I was 12 and even though a lot has changed for me in 13 years since that time with me now being 25 and a busy working adult with a degree… I still absolutely love this show and it's so awesome to see I am not alone in that! Thank you all so much and without further delay, here's chapter 2 and Noah's POV. FYI, I had so much fun writing this chapter from Noah's perspective and so I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This chapter picks up immediately after the previous chapter with Emma inviting Noah up to her apartment, I'll leave it up to you to make your own predictions. ;) Anyway, hope you all enjoy the chapter!

**(Noah's POV)**

_Is this seriously happening right now?_

I kept looking down at our hands as Emma was pretty much leading me up the stairs to her apartment.

Honestly, she could've been leading me off the edge of a cliff with her for all I cared right now and we've bungee jumped off a bridge together before.

I have no idea what I'm doing and... I wasn't expecting any of this to happen.

I was just going to crash at a hotel room for a night or something before heading back home, but then Emma asked me if I wanted to come up to her place and then pretty much implied that I could _spend the night_. I was trying so hard to get a grip right now as I started reevaluating my life choices since the race.

Sure I knew Emma was there from the start of the competition, but after I saw her stick that landing in the gym in Romania… I have no idea what happened to me?

She just took over every part of my head and I felt like I was nauseous almost constantly, especially whenever she was around me.

But, it was also like I couldn't care less.

Then later on the plane to Hawaii when I finally was able to get some sleep after trying to figure out what was even happening to me, I pretty much had a full on fantasy about her that I didn't say _anything_ to _anyone_ about for _obvious reasons._

Even though I woke up from it covered in sweat and Owen kept asking me if I was sick or dying even though I denied it, mainly because I was still trying to figure out what was even happening to me?!

I didn't fully get what was going on until halfway through the Hawaiian leg of the race… I was falling for her.

To me, Emma had everything I could possibly want if I had an ultimate trifecta.

She's hot, she's smart, and she's sassy… which is awesome!

Emma's also the only girl I ever really had an actual crush on if I'm really being honest. I know, probably pathetic to admit that considering I just turned 21 last week and have never had a girlfriend or even kissed a girl until just recently, but again… I didn't care and still don't.

Before _all this_ with Emma, I just never cared that much about dating or girls or any of that, even when I was in high school I didn't care. Most of the time all I wanted to do was just spend all my time alone in my room reading or playing video games or something.

Which is probably why I had no idea what was happening to me when I started crushing on Emma big time… and that she was also _actually_ into me too?

Honestly, that still confuses me more than how no one else during the start of the World Tour season could figure out that Alejandro was a total snake except for me and Heather, which you know is saying something when you realize you _actually_ agree with Heather about literally anything.

I just couldn't wrap any part of my brain around how she was actually as into me as much as I was into her.

Not that I'm complaining since it was what I wanted, but that still didn't mean I wasn't expecting her to _actually_ be into me. I have no idea how to describe it so that it doesn't sound like cliché garbage out of a bad romcom, but we just… _clicked._

Whenever we talked, it was almost like talking to the female version of myself sometimes. Which was crazy but Emma and I found out we actually do have _a lot_ in common.

Sure she's not really into video games which was kind of disappointing, but we both like reading the same kinds of books and both of us are introverts so that's awesome.

Which I think is yet another reason why I was so confused when I started having a crush on her since all I wanted to do was just be around her _constantly_. Up until that point, I pretty much avoided a lot of social situations like the plague so I could just relish in silence and _me time_.

Sure Ben's family has been driving me crazy and that's another reason why I had to get out of the house, but I also just… _missed_ her, _a lot_.

All I did after the finale since I got home was think about her.

Again, as really stupid and corny as it sounds to me with these words even coming out of any part of me, but Emma's literally the first thing I thought of when I'd wake up and the last thing I thought about before going to sleep… and doing more than just _think about her_ before going to sleep most of the time if I am being completely honest with myself.

Sure I'd text her a lot and call her sometimes, but calling her was always the best and the absolute worst for me.

I could hear her voice but at the same time, there was no way I could see her easily since we live 22 hours away from each other and she was busy with law school for a good stretch until now.

And now that I actually had time… I couldn't take it anymore.

All it took was me throwing everything in a duffle bag and taking off in my car. Besides, I'm only still living at home with my parents since I'm hardly ever home anyway between seasons.

And I'm 21 so… whatever.

I've had to deal with Ben and my insane nephews for the past 2 weeks while they're waiting to officially move into their new house. So if I want to drive 22 hours to see Emma, then sue me.

Not that I'm even complaining since _this_ is happening right now.

"So… this is my place." I heard her say, trying to make it look like I was paying attention the whole time instead of getting consumed in some weird-ass mental vortex like I actually was just now.

She unlocked her door before we both walked into her apartment as she locked the door behind us while I tried to push back _the obvious_ going through my head.

For a student apartment, it was actually pretty nice and had a fair amount of space.

I kept looking around until I felt her squeeze my hand to make me look at her. I felt like my throat went completely dry when I saw her just giving me this cute half smile that made me forget what I was doing for a second.

"Hey, I'm just going to change. The bathroom's over there next to my room if you need it. I'll be right back, okay?" She said, squeezing my hand one more time before letting go and disappearing into what I guessed was her room, shutting the door behind her.

After finally breaking out of whatever weird trance I was in; I grabbed a pair of basketball shorts, that I have never played any kind of sport in ever, and a T-shirt that I sometimes sleep in from my duffle bag to change into.

I also decided to just wash my face really quick and even put on deodorant again. Which even to me makes no sense since it's late at night, but again… I have no idea what I'm doing and feel like I'm going to hurl.

After that I was just awkwardly walking around her living room for no reason until I sat on her couch in front of the TV.

I kept sitting there for a few seconds in silence as I bit my lip and started sweating when I started thinking about _everything that could happen_.

Normally I love silence… except now.

I was looking for any kind of distraction from thinking and picked up the remote on the table in front of me and started rapidly flicking through channels on the TV. I kept flicking until I stopped on one particular channel when I saw a news anchor.

"Welcome back to the Toronto Nightly News, I'm Pat Torricelli. A developing story right now as a 10 car pile up is developing on the tollway and causing all kinds of back ups and several confirmed injuries. We go live to Marissa Lopez who is out on the scene, Marissa. "

I sighed in relief almost immediately.

_Perfect. Nothing like watching something incredibly depressing like the news to distract you from your weird and awkward thoughts and feelings._

After watching the car pile up coverage, I leaned back into the couch, feeling more relaxed and never been more happy to watch the news ever in my life. Not even kidding, it was pretty much to the point where I was practically smirking to myself as I put my arms behind my head while watching the TV.

I was almost so sucked in that I almost didn't notice something out of the corner of my eye until I heard, "Hey Noah, do you want something to drink?"

I looked over and my eyes immediately went wide and my mouth involuntarily fell open for a second.

My throat went from being bone dry to me taking a gulp that felt like I was swallowing a rock at what I was seeing right now.

Emma had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing a gray tank top and a pair of dark orange shorts, _very_ short dark orange shorts...

Sure, it's probably just what she usually sleeps in since all 3 of my sisters wore stuff kinda like that, but on Emma…

_Don't say anything stupid, Noah. Don't or so help me!_

I shook my head a little to snap myself out of it, or as much as possible despite it being painfully obvious I was completely checking her out just now… and still pretty much am.

"I'm good." I said, somehow not sounding like a total idiot.

She just smirked at me before she turned her back to me and went to get something out of the fridge. I tried to make it seem like I was trying to focus on the TV, even though I couldn't fight it since I just ended up _staring_ at her again.

Just looking at… _everything._

_Whoa…_

She turned back around after grabbing a bottled water out of the fridge and I immediately made sure to snap my head back to the TV as fast as possible.

Well, so much for using the TV as a distraction from my weird-ass thoughts...

I tried to subtly _readjust myself_ before she walked over and sat next to me on the couch, since her seeing me get a hard on after just staring at her was the last thing I wanted right now, or ever.

_C'mon Noah, get a grip! Can you possibly make this anymore awkward?!_

The last time I remember something this weird happening was when I got home from the race and only kept watching because Emma was still in it. And once I saw Emma in a swimsuit in the last couple episodes and not exaggerating, I felt like I died for a second.

Not that I didn't always think she looked awesome in almost anything at all, but… I actually caught myself almost drooling like I was in a state of paralysis and had to pretty much smack myself to make myself get a grip since I was watching it in the middle of the family room at my parent's house with my sister Christina and her family when they were over visiting.

Even though Christina was the only person who kinda caught me and kept giving me these teasing looks about it the rest of the time they were over.

But that wasn't the first time and knowing my family it won't be the last.

I'm by far the smartest person in my entire family, or _biggest smartass_ as my dad usually calls me… which I can't argue with.

Ever since I was a kid, my parents would always ask me almost ironically if I ever _didn't_ have a smartass remark to say about everything? And the answer to that was always.

I freely admit I'm a _know-it-all_ , but that's mainly because I only say it like it is about everything… and also because whenever my brothers especially would pick on me growing up, my attitude was what pretty much helped me survive.

Sure I was never as athletic or ever as strong as the rest of my brothers, especially Ben who pretty much looks like a bunch of rocks glued together since he used to be a hockey player and is probably also about as smart as a bunch of rocks glued together in my opinion.

Either way, I was smarter than all of them and I was able to make comebacks that they couldn't keep up with.

It was the best defense mechanism I had and in my opinion one of my top qualities.

But, when I came back from the race, my whole family started just teasing me constantly over how they saw how I acted around Emma. And it didn't matter how many times I rolled my eyes and said _whatever_ about it.

Cuz for once, they were right.

Up until I met Emma, I always had a response for everything in every situation no matter what. But with Emma… I have no idea what happens to me?

It's like I lose all control of whatever ends up coming out of my mouth and usually make a total idiot of myself around her constantly because of it.

I clenched my fist furthest away from her as I attempted to get a grip over myself now more than ever.

_Okay, this ends now! I am not going to let how I feel about her control me anymore to act like a word vomiting idiot. Never ag… ain._

I looked down and felt like I was swallowing a rock when I noticed her snuggling up to me and pretty much swung her legs over mine as she leaned her head into the crook of my neck. Then as if that wasn't enough, I felt her put a hand on my chest and I was just hoping she couldn't feel how much I felt like I was having a heart attack and an ulcer simultaneously right now.

Also the fact that I still had a slight hard on, which was only getting worse, that her legs were just an inch away from and that made me hold my breath and hope she didn't notice to make this situation the most awkward thing in the history of time.

And when talking about us when it comes to _awkward_ … that's saying something.

_Ugh, WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!_

"This is okay, right?" I whipped my head down and saw her looking up at me, and me knowing she was referring to us cuddling like this.

Sure, she sat on my lap once when we were still in the race before Owen and I got eliminated. But this… _this_ was different.

We were alone in her apartment with no one else around and I felt like I had to violently throw up right now out of nervousness, but I also didn't care at all since at the same time all I wanted to do was be as close as possible to her right now.

I was going to say something, but stopped myself as I just smirked at her and tried to wrap my arms around her a little as I looked back at the TV, trying to do anything to not ruin this, even if it meant not talking.

I felt like I was released from one of Owen's suffocating hugs when I felt her put her head back in the crook of my neck and move her hand on my chest up to my right shoulder.

"Didn't know the news was your idea of _quality entertainment_?" I heard her comment sarcastically, probably just breaking the silence. I took a second to get it together enough before I responded, trying to act like my usual _normal_ , "Oh yes, nothing says _entertaining_ to me like watching something that's 9 out 10 times incredibly depressing this late at night."

I heard her let out a laugh and that made me smirk and relax a little bit.

Eventually the news turned into the late show after another 10 minutes and I tried to just keep watching the TV and also keep my mouth shut. I almost thought she was sleeping or something since she hadn't moved or said anything in a long time, or at least in just the past 10 minutes. I just kept sitting there like a statue since I was too freaked out to do anything else.

After another minute of trying to concentrate on the TV, I felt my eyes go wide when I felt her hand that was on my shoulder slowly slide up the side of my neck until it got to the back of my head, well almost.

Her hand paused at the nape of my neck as she started brushing her fingers over the hair on the back of my head and I could feel every muscle in my back contract on reflex and my eyes almost involuntarily rolled into the back of my head a little for a second. I thought it was just going to last for a second as I kept trying to get a grip… but she just kept doing it.

After a few seconds, I had this weird _feeling_ as I looked down only to see her looking right back at me. For once, my mind went completely blank as we just kept looking at each other. If I had no idea what I was doing before, I _definitely_ had no idea now.

I couldn't form any thought in my head… except _one_. After a second I leaned closer to her slowly until finally… _yes._

I kept pressing my lips more into hers, not knowing what to do since I've never been the one to kiss her since she was always the one kissing me.

All I knew was I didn't want to screw up the first and only make out session I've ever had… especially since I was making out with Emma!

My breath hitched for a second and my hands involuntarily let go of her when she totally caught me off guard and wrapped both of her arms around my neck and then straddled over my lap as I felt her sigh into me as we kept kissing.

_Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out…_

I just kept trying to do whatever she was doing as we kept kissing.

Well, until I felt both of her hands on the back of my head as she ran her fingers through my hair, making my eyes officially roll to the back of my head as I let out an involuntary groan that was almost so loud it was embarrassing.

Finally I put my hands on either side of her back and was hardly able to even think about it when I felt her deepen the kiss again.

I wasn't even thinking at all now as I opened my mouth a little more slid my tongue across her bottom lip a little bit and I was even more shocked when she pretty much locked her arms around my neck and opened her mouth and… I felt like I was completely losing it when I felt her doing the same thing right back at me and I immediately wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her against me, not wanting this stop even if it killed me.

But, it wasn't _enough_... I needed her closer.

My mind felt completely disconnected from the rest of my body as my hands kept going lower until my hands were on her hips before they started wandering in. I heard her gasp for a second and I immediately let go, thinking I messed up big time and crossed the line.

I was about to pull away from her to profusely apologize until my eyes shot open involuntarily in shock when I felt her grab my hands and practically almost force them right back to where they were before just locking her arms around my neck.

At first I froze up for a split second until I decided to just shrug it off and just go with it like I've been doing this whole time even though I couldn't believe this was even happening.

After another minute, I had no idea where it came from but I pulled her completely against me again and turned her under me in one swift motion that even freaked me out for a second that I was even capable of doing that.

At first I thought I messed up again, but she just readjusted her arms around my neck and laughed a little against my lips as we kept kissing and I couldn't stop myself from laughing with her.

Well, until I was completely caught off guard again when I felt her legs wrap around my lower back and pull me down toward her… until our hips made contact and I felt I was this close to _losing it_ when I _pressed into her_ and I let out another embarrassingly loud groan that would've made me recede into myself if I wasn't so hung up on what was happening.

I didn't even care if it was pathetic that I was getting this worked up just having that happen through clothes, I just couldn't believe I was doing this with Emma at all and that she still seemed just as if not more into what was going on than me, especially after I felt her sigh a little bit and practically kept me locked there against her.

Which that was _awesome_ but also frustrating since I almost felt like I was _suffocating._ Then I felt like I couldn't breathe for another reason when I felt one of her hands smooth down my whole front until she got to the hem of my shirt and started to pull up on it and she didn't have to tell me twice as I tried to take off my shirt as fast as possible.

Not that I wouldn't do almost anything for her to begin with… but she could do whatever she wanted to me right now and I'd _definitely_ be _totally_ okay with it.

I probably looked like I was insane just taking off my shirt and I think she was getting frustrated with how long it was taking since I felt her pretty much yanking my shirt over my head and threw it away before strong arming me back down to kiss her, which not going to lie turned me on like no other.

Or I thought that was a turn on until I felt her run her hands down my back and I felt like my head was lost in another dimension until I was brought back when I felt one of her hands drift below my waist and I froze up when she put her hand on my butt.

_Okay… this is happening._

Eh, again, she can do whatever she wants with me, and not that I wasn't _into it_ if I was being honest.

After shrugging it off, we kept kissing and getting SO into it that I had no idea what ended up happening until we fell off the couch and I felt my back land flat on the floor and she ended up landing on top of me, which I probably would've complained about how much that hurt… if I wasn't stuck staring at her right now and getting completely sucked in by looking at her.

Both of us were trying to catch our breath as we stared at each other and my hands were still on her hips and her hands were on the floor on either side of my head but her face was only a couple inches away from mine and she had that cute smile on her face that never fails to make me forget who I am for a second as she leaned down and rested her forehead against mine as we kept looking at each other.

All we could hear was the TV going in the background as we both kept looking at each other, until in a _brilliant moment_ of word association I said, "I'm a virgin."

…

…

…

…

**_WHAT?!_ **

Emma was just looking at me with wide eyes and an extremely confused look on her face. I immediately shut my eyes tight as I proceeded to internally curse myself out at what I just said and cringed in the most painful way possible, wanting someone to just kill me right now.

Look, I've said _a lot_ of stupid things when I'm around Emma... BUT WHY DID I SAY _THAT_?!

WHY DID I EVEN HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING?!

Why do I always make a total idiot out of myself and say the stupidest things around her?! WHY?!

Do I want her to think I'm a total loser?! I might as well just take a permanent marker and write 'loser' on my forehead at this point! I was still trying not to look at her until I felt her hands on either side of my face as I heard, "Noah?"

I kept my eyes shut, refusing to look at her and still just feeling like I wanted to die of embarrassment.

_Ugh, she probably does think I'm a loser doesn't she? WHY CAN'T I JUST…_

"Noah, look at me." She said, sounding pretty stern.

As much as I didn't want to, I eventually cracked an eye open, expecting to just be judged to completion for possibly the stupidest thing that has ever come out of my mouth.

But, I was really shocked when I looked at her and saw her looking almost _sympathetic_ , either way it wasn't what I was expecting.

It was quiet as we kept looking at each other until she closed her eyes and let out a long exhale through her nose before biting her lip, looking almost _nervous_.

I tilted my head at her in confusion before she looked back at me before saying, "Noah... we need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh c'mon! You know it wouldn't be proper Nemma interaction without something awkward happening… or painfully awkward in this case. Lol. XD Anyway, based on a lot of things from watching and rewatching the series several different times and also looking into Noah's official Fresh TV profile and how he acted around Emma, I could see Noah being the kind of guy who is so intelligent when it comes to a lot of situations, but social and romantic situations are not his strong suit. Particularly that I think Noah, due to being very socially closed off and having his sort of personality, has probably had very little real world experience when it comes to dating. Particularly him personally being inexperienced both emotionally and romantically in a situation with a girl he's really into. So, I really wanted to put myself into the head of a very emotionally and physically flustered and confused Noah who is trying to figure out how to navigate through his first situation alone with a girl he likes and trying to not mess anything up… which of course backfires in the most painfully awkward way possible as he loses his ability to internalize his thoughts around Emma. Poor guy. Lol. XD Anyway, what's going to happen between Noah and Emma next chapter? Stay tuned to find out next time! As always, thank you all for reading and constructive reviews are always appreciated. Hope you all are still continuing to stay safe and healthy!
> 
> Stay Classy!
> 
> Dexter1995
> 
> P.S. Now, I don't know if some of you caught that one little 'Easter egg' I threw in the chapter during Emma and Noah's make out session but... can we all just talk about what's up with Emma's fixation on Noah's butt that was mentioned several times in the show? Hey, not judging, but... just pointing that out. Lol. XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, again… thank you all so much! I still can't believe all the support I've gotten so quickly on this fanfic and I am so happy to hear how many of you are enjoying it… despite me trolling all of you last chapter into thinking Noah and Emma were going to hook up. Not sorry! I embrace the full on perfection of awkwardness and miscommunications that is Noah and Emma's relationship. Lol. XD Anyway, this chapter begins minutes after the end of the previous chapter. Hope you all enjoy! :)

**(Emma's POV)**

I put my arms around my knees as Noah and I kept sitting on the floor next to each other while leaning against the couch, having no idea what to say… and I was the one that said I wanted to talk!

Not to mention I have probably never been in a more awkward situation in my entire life… and coming from me that's saying something, especially when talking about us.

All I could do was bite my lip, kind of wishing I left the TV on to fill the painfully awkward silence, while still trying to figure out where to even start after _what just happened._

I slowly glanced over at Noah, who still was refusing to look at me with an almost painfully embarrassed yet lifeless look on his face, as he just kept staring at the floor in front of him. Last time I saw him anywhere near close to _this state_ was during the race.

He was resting his elbows on his knees before tilting his head down and then gripped his hands into his hair, looking completely stressed out as he let out a painfully long sigh.

I pursed my lips as I kept looking at him and felt like I wanted someone to smack me when I got distracted by the fact that he still had his shirt off right now.

_C'mon Emma, not the time! Get a hold of yourself!_

Sure, everything about this situation was completely awkward, but… I don't know?

I guess… I just felt _really_ bad for Noah right now if I'm being really honest.

Sure, was I flustered that what he just said _completely_ ruined the best make out session I've ever had, despite me not having many to begin with?

Yes, no doubt I'm annoyed.

But at the same time, I don't think I helped the situation either by freezing up and looking at him like he was a freak.

In my defense though, I was caught off guard and wasn't expecting him to just say _that_ completely out of nowhere. But then again, it also made me think about a lot that I haven't _factored in_ before about us.

As much as we talked to each other or texted almost every day, we never really got too into talking about things that were _personal_ so far in our relationship. Sure, Noah knew I had an ex-boyfriend that put me off from dating for 3 years, but… I never asked or knew if Noah ever dated anyone before me?

Not that it entirely matters, but after what he _admitted_ just now, I couldn't help but not be kind of curious in some way about it. Particularly now... I feel like I have _something_ I need to tell him right now too since this is just _out there_.

I was hesitant, almost even more now than when I _broke him_ back when I told him we had to temporarily _take a break_ during the race.

After trying to reach out several times, I bit my lip as I put a hand on his shoulder and started, "Noah?"

He still wasn't looking at me and I was about to try and _coax him_ out of whatever self-deprecating box he's sealing himself in right now until he said, his voice sounding muffled, flat, and sulking, "Look, if you're going to laugh at or break up with me, then just do it."

I tilted my head at him and questioned, "And… why would you think I would do either of those things right now?"

He didn't respond and just stayed the way he was by _still_ refusing to look at me and completely self-sulking in every possible way.

_Okay, this is getting ridiculous._

I reached in and forced him to look at me as I said, getting annoyed and wanting to make a point, "The only way I'd break up with you right now is if you don't just look at me while we're talking, okay?"

I think that did it since he finally made eye contact with me, begrudgingly and still almost looking pained from total embarrassment, but hey it's progress!

"Noah, I just want to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me." I said, trying to make sure I was being completely sincere since all I wanted was to know, and also not keep him from just being upfront with me.

After a couple painstakingly quiet seconds he sat up a little more and let out a sigh before nodding at me.

I was trying to come up with the best way to word it without coming off insulting since that was by far the last thing I wanted to do right now, especially since I didn't even care how he even answered, "Just out of curiosity, have you dated anyone before me?"

I mean, I remembered when Owen mentioned that Noah never had a girlfriend before, but having a relationship and dating are two completely different things to me, so… I just wanted to know.

Slowly, I watched Noah reach back, rubbing the back of his neck before looking back at me and admitting, letting out a long and strained sigh again, "Honestly… no. Never dated, never had an actual crush, never had a girlfriend, or never kissed a girl except you. Go ahead, laugh."

I could tell he was getting idiotically defensive which was really annoying me even more, but… I had to remind myself that I had to look at this from his angle right now.

He's a 21 year old guy and he probably has this stupid idea that he probably thinks I'm not interested in him anymore or that I think he's a loser or something because he has pretty much no _experience_ outside of me.

Which I can't _completely_ fault him for that since I know there are girls who would probably laugh at him and think he was a loser because of something completely ridiculous like being a virgin still in your early 20's and… I hate that for many reasons and especially for something _personal_.

I turned more toward his direction after getting enough gumption to just say it as I said, trying not to sound pathetic, "I'm not laughing. And if its all the same to you, I've never… had sex either."

If he wasn't looking at me before, I had his undivided attention now since his eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head as he stared right at me in a state of shock as I looked away on reflex.

My face literally felt like it was on fire, not believing this conversation was even happening right now.

Even though I don't know why he looked so surprised about it in my opinion?

Also to me, Noah couldn't be anymore wrong about how I feel about him now. The fact that I'm pretty much his first _everything_ is actually really... _sweet_ to me. And also only makes me like him that much more in some weird way.

_Ugh, who am I kidding?! I'm still into him so bad it makes me want to smack myself._

Besides, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a weird feeling for me too since I wasn't used to feeling like this in _any_ situation. Mainly with me feeling like the one with more _relationship experience,_ even though I will even admit I use that term _extremely_ loosely when describing myself in this _area_ considering by most definitions a lot of guys would look at almost 22 year old me as a _cold fish_.

Not to mention that I know deep down; and as much I hate admitting Kitty's right about this when it comes to me, but people can _sometimes_ find my personality a little _off putting_.

But hey, I'm a strong, intelligent, and opinionated woman and I don't apologize for just saying the truth about what I'm thinking… even if sometimes it isn't _exactly_ what people want to hear but that's not my problem.

Then again, that's _partially_ why I didn't have a boyfriend until I was 19 and never got asked out or had guys interested in me that much in high school and ended up going to Prom with my little sister.

Not gonna lie that as a teenager in your formative years with not having anyone interested in dating you because you intimidate or put them off them until you're 19 and then only have that one relationship last for 4 months before getting dumped for being _too intense_ is something that kind of takes a blow to your self esteem.

But then again, I was also so focused on maintaining my position as the top of my class in high school and focusing on my extracurriculars that it's not like I was focusing a lot of my time into boys anyway, mainly because there were very few guys at my high school I was interested in anyway.

I think that was why when I finally realized Noah liked me and then I started talking to him, it was like I couldn't comprehend it at first and was in total denial.

For once a guy who _actually_ wasn't put off by me and was _really_ into me. Actually I was almost so in denial that I couldn't stand it when Kitty kept teasing me over Noah and kept teasingly pointing out constantly how much he was into me. Then after getting to know him, Noah and I have _very_ similar personalities that people usually misconstrue as us just being _snarky, rude know-it-alls_.

Which okay, we both kind of are, but it totally made sense to me why Noah and I didn't completely put each other off whenever we had a normal conversation together, emphasis on _normal conversations._

We both just... _clicked_.

I have no idea how to describe it other than that, but it's true. And I was and still am _completely_ mentally and physically attracted to him and that only made me crush on him even harder than I already was.

I was still deep in thought until I heard Noah start, his tone sounding completely confused, "Um… what?"

He was looking at me like I was growing a second head as I quirked up an eyebrow and countered just as confused, "What do you mean _what_?"

Immediately Noah just gave me a look like he thought I was lying as he responded, "There is no way I believe that." At that instant, I immediately took offense on reflex as I put my hands on my hips and questioned, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

_What? Was he implying he thought I was easy or desperate or something?_

Although, I immediately realized I took it too far as I saw Noah backtrack as he put his hands up as he recovered, "No, I... it's just… ugh!" He stopped and looked like he was trying to _get a grip_ before he said, "Look, I only said I don't believe that because well, you're… hot or uh, you know, you're _really_ pretty and smart and… I'll stop talking."

I felt myself blush almost immediately as I bit my lip to keep myself under control even though I could see he thought he kept digging himself into a hole as he looked at the floor again, even though to me he couldn't be more wrong.

Especially since at this point all I wanted to do was just listen to him keep talking about me or completely throw myself at him again since I've never _actually_ heard a guy say those things about me.

But, I tried to push it all back as I looked at him again.

Even though he still just looked like he just wanted to phase out of existence.

I scooted a little closer to him as I pulled my knees closer to me and sighed before saying, "Well, thanks for thinking that Noah, but… that's where you don't know me at all. Believe it or not, I wasn't _necessarily_ getting guys _lined up_ to date me back in high school… or ever. I mean, look at me. I couldn't even get anyone to go to prom with me and ended up taking my sister. Then I couldn't even get a guy to date me until I was 19 only to get dumped 4 months later. So, if that doesn't say _loser_ to you _,_ then I don't know what does?"

I let out a sharp breath before letting out a self-deprecating laugh at the end, not realizing how heavy what I just said was until I said it out loud.

I felt like I was getting sucked into a very weird place in my thoughts until I felt something and looked down and saw Noah's hand resting over mine on the floor.

Slowly, I looked back over at him and was kind of surprised to see his usual smirk-like smile on his face as he said, "Hey, to me, that's their loss. And I didn't even go to prom, or any school dance… ever. Sure I was already graduated from high school by the time I was 14; but whatever, not like I would've gone anyway."

At first, I smiled at him, until I processed everything he said as I tilted my head at him and gave him a surprised look at what he just mentioned and responded, knowing I sounded a little surprised and mildly shocked, "Wait, you graduated high school at 14?"

Yeah, I knew Noah is a really intelligent guy, which for me is honestly a _huge_ turn on, but I didn't think he was _that_ intelligent!

Noah shrugged and said, very matter of fact, "Technically with honors, not that I care or it even matters. I have an IQ of 180 and school came _way_ too easy for me. Honestly, I've never had to study for a single test in my whole life and I was never _that_ interested in school because to me it was all _way_ too easy and bored me to death. All I wanted to do was just go home and read or be on the computer. Then a couple months later, I was hoping college would at least challenge me more... and also because my parents were on me about _doing something with my life_ besides spending the entire day every day on the computer. Even though using computers all day is _exactly_ what I wanted to do with my life. So I got a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science degree by the time I was 17, even though my parents thought I should've become a doctor or _hilariously_ enough a lawyer because of how smart I was… and mostly because of my _smart mouth_ according to my dad."

I smirked and commented, "I don't know? You have the right personality to be a lawyer. Maybe you should look into law too?"

Noah smirked back before responding, " _Yeah_ , hard pass. Sure I've got the 'smart mouth' to be a lawyer, but I don't really do _people_ too much on a daily basis and it's not really what I wanted to do. Besides, I don't think anyone could handle it if both of us were lawyers so… law can stay your thing."

He threw in a wink at me at the end that made me blush but I covered it up as I shoved his shoulder and rolled my eyes before responding, "Yeah, _right_? If you say so."

We both laughed until he continued, "But, anyway, once I got to university, that only confirmed what I already knew since I knew more about computers and coding than my professors in the program I was commuting to in Winnipeg did. It was pretty much like high school all over again since they pretty much got so tired of _dealing with me_ in their classes that they pretty much had to get 'special permission' from the Dean so that I could take the remainder of my classes _at my own pace_ online. Which pretty much meant I tested out of all my classes by default and I ended up finishing college early too. But, hey it's not my problem I knew most of those things by the time I was 6… what?"

He was giving me this confused look at the end since I was looking at him with my eyes about to fall out of my head and my mouth open like I was about to get hit by a car.

But… can you blame me?!

I had no idea how he was able to talk so _nonchalantly_ about all that. I mean, I graduated top of my class in high school and undergrad, but compared to Noah... I seriously felt like an idiot.

By the time I was in university, he already had an undergraduate degree?! You've gotta be kidding me right now!

Then by the time I finished up my degree before law school several months ago, I was so stressed I literally wanted to throw my desk out a window and he was able to take in and regurgitate the material _that_ easily?!

I don't think I've ever liked someone this much yet also simultaneously wanted to punch them as much as I wanted to right now.

Eventually I was able to finally say something as I said flat out, just letting out the only thing going through my head, "Okay, let me get this straight… You've had an undergraduate degree for the past 4 years?"

He just shrugged and said, "Yeah… why? What's the big deal?"

_What's the big deal? Is he serious?! Does he have any idea how much I would've killed to be anywhere near as smart as him?!_

As much as I really wanted to get into this right now with him over how he was able to be like this, but I was determined to stay on track.

I shook my head as I said, "Never mind, but going back here… you've seriously never even been to a school dance, like not even once?"

Noah didn't even hesitate to shrug before shaking his head and responding, "Nope. Considering the whole reason most guys go to dances at all anyway was to get girls, or that was at least _definitely_ why all my brothers would go anyway, and I was never interested in any of that. At least back then, I _really_ didn't. So, I didn't care and that was also part of the reason I just graduated from high school early. That and I'm not really much of a _dancing_ kind of guy anyway."

I felt so wrapped up in a million different thoughts right now until I looked down and saw him intertwine his fingers with my hand that was still palm down on the floor.

"But... let's just say if we went to the same high school, it _may_ have been a different story." He said, _definitely_ implying that he would have asked me out.

Every muscle in my body froze up for a second as I felt a blush slowly creeping up again, but this time… I seriously couldn't care less.

I haven't felt like this since he inadvertently blurted out he thought I was pretty during the race.

Yeah, Kitty always teases me about that particular instance on an _extremely_ regular basis, just like she did earlier, but again… I don't care. Because that was honestly one of the nicest things any guys has ever said and genuinely meant it, kind of like he did again earlier.

I slowly looked down at our hands and turned mine over to intertwine my fingers with his.

I didn't really know what else to do, until I noticed we were practically shoulder to shoulder at this point as I smiled and said, "Thanks Noah."

He just smiled a little back at me before we both just kept sitting there in silence, which was actually kind of nice.

But, after the silence kept going, the awkwardness slowly came back.

I bit my lip until Noah beat me to it as he said, "So, not complaining or anything, but… what now?"

_Honestly… valid point._

I kept thinking until a thought hit me about something my sister, yet again, would be on me about all the time. Particularly when Noah and I tried to start a _thing_ during the race. I let out a sigh before saying, "I think I know."

I looked over at his shirt on the floor that I didn't realize how far I threw it earlier until now as I got up to get it. Slowly I let go of his hand and I think he was confused as he said, "No rush, but… care to _enlighten me?"_

I picked up his shirt off the floor, looking at it for a few seconds before straightening up and starting, "Look Noah, like I told you before. I _really_ like you, _a lot_ … honestly I like you more than any guy I've had a crush on ever and it drives me crazy sometimes because of it. But, I know Kitty's right. I have a tendency to be _impulsive_ and _rush into things_ when it comes to relationships to the point that it can completely screw things up. And I _really_ don't want to screw things up with us. So now that I know _where you're coming from_ and you know that we're both in kind of _similar territory_ together at this point, I really think we need to take a step back and take things slow. Nothing crazy, but maybe _hold off_ a little more for a while... Because I'd really like to go out with you more on dates and for us to actually get to know each other more, _really_ get to know each other. Even if we can't see each other, let's just video chat or something or something at least once a week, because… I _really_ want this to work out."

I smiled a little at him as I handed him his shirt back. He just looked at me for a second until he gave me a slight smirk before following up, "And by _take a step back_ … how _far back_ are we talking?"

I gave him a look and scoffed as I shoved his shoulder before responding, "You're unbelievable."

Okay, I knew he was partially kidding, but at the same time it's like I was totally forgetting that I was talking to a guy who was _really_ into me. Particularly since I could _feel_ just how much he was at least _physically into me_ when we were making out just now.

Ugh, but I'd be totally lying if I said I wasn't just as physically into him either.

He just shrugged and smirked, seeing I was messing with him back, as he said, "Just kidding."

I snorted out a laugh a little and gave him a slight look with a smirk back as I started putting his shirt back on over his head. I was almost fighting off a daze and had to shake my head for a second and look away to keep him from seeing I was checking him out.

_Yeah, definitely a total lie._

I was able to even out when he got his shirt back on before saying, "But, that's fine and honestly… I get it. Let's just take it slow and see what happens."

I smiled a little at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Partially because I wanted to and partially due to the fact that I knew if I did anything more than kiss him on the cheek at this point I'd just put us right back at square negative 100.

He smiled a little bit back at me until he rubbed the back of his neck before he brought up, "So… I'm assuming this is the part where you kick me out of your apartment?"

I gave him a confused look before responding, "What? No."

He thought for a second before gesturing to the couch with his thumb as he asked, "Then I'm crashing on the couch?" I mean, that was probably the best idea for both of us at this point but... I had something else in mind.

I smirked a little and grabbed his hand as I led on, "I've got something."

I didn't even give him time to respond as I started leading him to my room. Once we got in I let go and started bringing the covers down until I heard Noah point out, "Okay, I know I'm new to this whole _relationship thing_ , but… _this_ doesn't really seem like _taking it slow_ to me."

He motioned to my bed at the end with a slight smirk even though through the playful sarcasm, I could sense some nerves coming through in his voice.

As much as I wanted to mess with him, I didn't want to freak him out or give him the wrong impression.

I stood up and started, "Look, so far we've kind of let our first real date and everything kind of _take things over_ , but… I just figured since you've had a lot of _firsts_ but we agreed to take a step back, we can have a first for both of us right now that doesn't have to be anything too _out there._ "

That wasn't a lie.

What I had in mind was actually something I've never done and… I am not going to lie that I _really_ wanted to do this with him.

I got in my bed and pulled up the covers a little before patting the empty right side of my bed as I looked at him and gave him a smirk and a nod. He was still giving me a confused look before shrugging and walking over to the right side of the bed and hesitantly climbing under the covers while he kept giving me confused looks as I just kept smiling at him.

Not going to lie… I was really enjoying this in some very bizarre way.

Yes, its stupid that I'm enjoying this as much as I am since it really isn't that much of a _big deal_ since all I wanted to do was just cuddle with him in my bed, but… I don't care.

Noah drove 22 hours to get here just to see me and I was going to take advantage of every second.

He climbed in and I slowly slid over and cuddled up to him as I rested my head and right hand on his chest. I could tell he was caught off guard since he froze up for a second until I felt him slowly wrap his arms around me a little bit.

I glanced up for a second, seeing if this was _too much_ , but I smiled as soon as I saw him smiling back as I said, "So… any complaints?"

He gave me that smirk and eyebrow raise combination that never fails to drive me crazy.

"Well, if I have any, I'll be sure to take them up with my lawyer." He said, completely flirting with me, and winking at me at the end.

I smirked and rolled my eyes and said, trying to cover up what I was actually thinking, "You are such a dork."

He just let out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around me a little bit more.

_Okay... that was actually really cute._

But, I kept trying to remind myself of the facts.

I didn't want myself to get completely wrapped up in things with Noah too quickly. Sure I remembered what Kitty said about 'living in the present', but that only got us into a completely awkward situation that could've been avoided if I would've just taken it slow with him to begin with.

Sure things started out pretty awkward, just like our relationship in general, but… I think we're finally on the right track.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know this chapter was very dialogue heavy, but after 2 chapters of more fan service-ish content that this kind of chapter was due. Haha. But, I just really want to show a more slice of life side of Noah and Emma as characters and their relationship. Mainly I was so excited to give my take on how I see both Noah and Emma as characters. With Emma and everything we've seen of her in the show and read about her in the information Fresh TV gave us, I saw Emma as the kind of girl who is so overly driven with getting what she wants out of her future that it would get in the way of a lot of facets of her personal life. Especially after it was mentioned in the episode Last Tango in Buenos Aires, that Emma didn't have any boys interested in going to her high school prom with her so she ended up just going with Kitty. So I could totally see Emma as the kind of girl who intimidates a lot of guys to the point they avoid her and this would eventually spiral later on with her getting into a short relationship with her ex-boyfriend Jake where he ends up breaking up with her over her being a bit too much for him to handle and then her taking this very personally. Particularly, so personal to the point that she avoided boys and relationships for years to focus on her studies until she met Noah, much to Kitty's initial excitement that a boy was crushing on her sister and that her sister actually liked him back despite being in total denial about it at first. At least that's my head canon of how I see Emma's character. Then with Noah… again, he was always one of my favorite characters in TD. But it's like everyone always glazes over the fact that Noah is literally a GENIUS. He's one of the smartest characters in the total drama cast, but… Noah is also one of the most unmotivated and unimpressed characters I have ever seen, particularly when he premiered in TDI. He has an IQ of 180 and it's like he doesn't even care. His TDI and TDWT profile even say that all he really cares, or cared, about was playing video games before he met Emma. I could totally see a young Noah going through his classes and excelling far ahead of his peers effortlessly yet he probably was just sitting in a chair while they're telling him this and him being like, "Yeah that's great, but can I play video games now? I have a raid happening in 20 minutes." So, I could totally see Noah graduating high school at an early age and also getting a college degree ahead of schedule, mainly due to the request of his parents, and still feeling like he couldn't care less about it. So this is the groundwork I wanted to set down for why they are the way they are in their relationship when they interact with each other, particularly how now that they both addressed these things a little about each other to each other… I figured this would be as good of a spot as any to really get this story going! So, if you want to stay on this for more Nemma content when I have time to post between my shifts at work… all are welcome! Haha. Next chapter will get into more interactions and a little more entertaining content. Haha. Anyway, thanks to each and every one of you for taking the time to read and constructive feedback is always appreciated.
> 
> Stay classy and safe everyone!
> 
> Dexter1995


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! As always, thanks so much for the feedback, although after some comments/questions from some of you, I thought I'd address them as to where this story is heading. Although this will heavily focus on Noah and Emma with slice of life components, I am also going to add in some references to a new season of Total Drama that was teased at us when Noah said he and Owen got asked to be on… even though it never happened and still sticks in my craw to this day about it never happening. :/ So I decided to take the liberty of making it happen to a degree in this fanfic! Anyway, without further delay, this chapter takes place the morning after the previous chapter. Let's say there's some sibling interactions that happen in this chapter, and it's not just Emma and Kitty.

**(Emma's POV)**

I could feel heat on my face and bright light as I slowly opened my eyes before gritting my teeth, realizing I forgot to close the blinds last night since the sun was glaring directly into my face.

I was going to get up and resign that I was just awake now until I felt something wrap around my waist that made my eyes go wide until I looked behind me slightly at Noah only to have him pull me back slightly against him until we were spooning.

It took a second until I heard Noah mumble something under his breath in his sleep that I couldn't make out, but still didn't mean that I didn't try to stifle back a laugh and smile to myself as I thought of something else.

After I got back home, I started going down a little bit of a _rabbit hole_. Mostly I started looking into Noah's _previous resumé_ with his reality TV record.

What? I'm going to be a lawyer so I like doing my research.

Anyway, I really didn't watch a lot of reality TV since that was always more Kitty's thing and it just never really interested me. Considering it was her idea for us to do the race together as a fun _sisterly bonding experience_ together before I got started with law school and she eventually talked me into it 100% when she said we could use the million to help me pay my way through law school.

So, either way, reality TV was never something that interested me until that moment.

But, I did hear of _Total Drama_ when it premiered back in high school and I knew that it was where Noah got his start competing on reality shows when he was 16.

So before my classes got started, I finally decided to watch it.

Or you know, at least the few episodes Noah was in until he got eliminated since I wasn't invested in it after that… and okay, fine, I watch the old episodes of _Total Drama_ that Noah was in when I _really_ miss him and just want to see him and hear him make sarcastic comments about everything like he usually does.

But, this is _exactly_ why I'm trying not to laugh right now.

During the episode in the first season where they were put through an _all nighter_ competition, I had to stop myself from laughing again and all I was doing was just thinking about it!

During that episode, I saw when Noah eventually passed out near Cody and both of them woke up after accidentally almost fully spooning before they immediately started screaming and running away from each other. I don't think I ever laughed at something so hard in my entire life and right now was proof of how much I stupidly found that hilarious.

It really isn't THAT funny and I don't know if I only found it funny because it had to do with Noah… but I catch myself thinking back to it and laughing about it to this day randomly.

I never brought it up with Noah since I'm guessing it's probably something he _doesn't want to talk about_ , particularly since I know that out of the few real friends from the show Noah has aside from Owen, he and Cody are actually pretty good friends who both just happen to be prone to painfully awkward situations as I also saw in the World Tour season.

Then again, at this point in my life, I can relate.

And as much as I had to use the bathroom right now, I also _really_ didn't want to stop this from happening. I closed my eyes and smiled to myself, just deciding to give in for a while.

It had to at least have been another 10 minutes until I felt his hold slacken a little bit and I decided it was now or never since I had to get up at some point.

I slowly and subtly tried to slide out from under his arm. I was so close to getting out without him noticing until I felt his hand squeeze mine as I heard, groggy but still in that same dry tone, "Hey, I was just getting comfortable."

I smiled a little to myself before biting my lips and trying to even it out to a smirk as I looked back at him and said, teasing him a little, "What? I can't get up and use the bathroom?"

He still had a slightly groggy look on his face as he smirked back at me as he put his free arm behind his head as he just kept holding my hand.

"So, are you going to let go or are you going to keep holding me here against my will?" I teased, even though him holding my hand right now was anything but that.

He let out a half laugh internally as he held his usual smirk before letting go of my hand and saying, "Go ahead. I'm just gonna hang back here for a bit."

He proceeded to put both arms behind his head as he closed his eyes and settled into the middle of my bed with a smirk on his face still, _definitely_ making himself comfortable.

I just smirked and playfully rolled my eyes for a second before commenting, messing with him, "Looks like you already _are_ comfortable to me."

He shrugged his shoulders a little with a smirk before responding, "Hey, I'm just enjoying this before you inevitably throw me out in a few hours so you can study." "Not _throw you out_ … but considering I slacked on studying from 4:30 yesterday until now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave in the next 2 hours so I can catch up." I teased again, knowing he wouldn't take offense.

I knew I was right when he smirked and replied, "Say no more. Just give me 15. All I need is breakfast, coffee and a shower then I'm good."

I decided to just go and use the bathroom as I called back, "I'll put another towel out."

After getting an extra towel out for Noah and using the bathroom, I got the coffee maker going and decided to start on making something for breakfast, usually I only have a bowl of cereal typically but I kind of wanted to make more of an effort here.

Even though all I had in my fridge that can be considered _breakfast_ were eggs, milk, and bread.

_Yeah, I still need to go grocery shopping._

Usually, I go out shopping after going out to eat on Saturday evening during my usual routine, but since Noah was here… that never happened.

_Well, french toast it is then._

I got out a mixing bowl and pan out of the cabinet and I was about to start on making the mixture until I remembered something. I opened the smaller side cabinet in my kitchen and found the small box of spices mom gave me before leaving to help me with making meals and got out the bottle of cinnamon.

I smirked for a second as I thought back to when Kitty and I were kids and we used to have a family breakfast together every Sunday morning and we'd have french toast _a lot_ since it was a favorite.

The way mom made french toast was _always_ with a teaspoon of cinnamon and it wasn't until we got to high school and ordered it at a restaurant that we realized only mom made it like that and both of us figured out mom ruined every other kind of french toast forever and got dad laughing about it when we told him once we got back home.

I smiled a little to myself as I thought of that and added the cinnamon just in time to hear my phone vibrating on the counter.

 _Kitty_.

Even though I knew _exactly_ why she was calling me, I was determined to stay casual about it.

I picked up my phone and balanced it between my shoulder and my ear as I started mixing while saying, "Hey Kit, what's going on?"

"Seriously? _What's going on?_ C'mon Em, you know what's up. How was your date?" Kitty asked, completely eager.

Initially I felt myself going off in a _daze_ , trying not to think about the awkwardness that happened last night as I just thought of the actual date itself, which was _great_.

I hesitated for a second, trying not to completely give in, "It was nice… and _productive_."

" _Productive?_ What? Were you having a meeting talking about starting a small business together or something? I highly doubt that. Now c'mon, sis! Details!" She said, sounding really excited and eager to hear about my date if it killed her.

I sighed, trying to remain relaxed and like my usual self as I started, keeping it to the point, "Well, we got dinner at that Greek place near me before going to see a movie and then we walked around downtown for a couple hours before he walked me back to my building. Nothing crazy."

It was silent for a second until she teased, "That's all?... Just kidding. Emma, I am so proud of you for actually getting out and having fun for once and…" "Hey Emma, the towel by the sink is for me, right?" Noah called out, making Kitty immediately go silent.

My whole stomach felt like it was contorting as I bit my lip and felt my face go red and heat up in total embarrassment, knowing I was busted.

_Crap._

As much as I wanted to be mad at Noah right now, I knew I couldn't since I didn't tell him where I was putting his towel.

Also, I knew if I did get mad right now, it would only make Noah aware that I was talking to my sister and I did _not_ want Noah to be pulled into this too.

I swallowed hard before calling back and trying to sound as normal as possible and keeping it short, "Yeah, that's yours."

"Thanks, you're the best." He called back before I heard the door close and the bathroom fan turn on.

As much as I would have probably _really_ liked hearing that come from him under normal circumstances… right now all I wanted to do was just die since that just made this even worse.

It was dead quiet until I heard the call end.

I looked at my phone in confusion until I felt like having a heart attack when I saw Kitty immediately calling me back, video calling me.

For a second I bit my lip and debated whether or not I wanted to just ignore the call since I had a painful and embarrassing feeling at the conversation that was inevitably coming. I sighed as I tried to stay strong as I straightened up.

_C'mon Emma, you're the older sister here. Take charge!_

I let out a sharp breath and picked up the call only to see Kitty staring at me in total shock and surprise in silence until she finally started, "Noah's in your apartment… at 8 am?"

"Yeah... so?" I said, knowing I was getting defensive.

But, look I'm not stupid and I already know what the situation _definitely_ seems like and I could totally read that from my sister completely right now.

I had no idea how she was going to react until I slowly saw her face go from shocked to this sly smirk as she teasingly narrowed her eyes at me until she started, "So… _nothing crazy_ , huh?"

_Crap, crap, crap..._

But as much as I felt like I wanted to phase out of existence… I glared at her and said, maintaining my defiance, "Look, nothing even happened, okay?"

" _Riiiiight_ , sure. Of course absolutely _nothing_ happened." She teased and then proceeded to laugh to herself a little bit until I grit my teeth and retorted, knowing I sounded embarrassed but still trying to hold my ground, " _Kitty!_ "

"Sorry, it was just _too good_. But, seriously, good for you. I mean, I knew you guys were _really_ into each other, but I didn't think..." "Kitty, for the last time, I didn't sleep with Noah! Okay, we _literally_ slept together in my bed, but nothing happened!" I blurted out, glad Noah was in the shower and probably couldn't hear this conversation.

_Hopefully…_

It was quiet as I slowly watched her face contort in confusion again until she tilted her head and finally said, "Um… wait, what now?"

Eventually I sighed and just gave in and told her pretty much everything. Well not every single detail, but I did tell her about _what happened_ between Noah and I after our _cut off_ make out session. Then just telling her about how we basically had a long talk and how we ended up just cuddling in my bed together.

At first, Kitty was so silent that I thought I _broke her_ with the _information overload_ until I heard her get out, "Wait, he _actually_ told you he was a virgin mid-make out session?"

At first I gave her a look about that being the first thing that she brought up after everything I just told her, but then again I shouldn't be too surprised.

I was about to respond until I heard and then saw Kitty facepalm herself with her free hand before letting out a strained groan. I was about to question her about it until she responded, "You know what? I was right all along. You both are made for each other considering I have never met a more painfully awkward couple than you and him."

Okay as much as I always hate to admit it whenever my little sister is right like this… ugh, dammit, she's right.

But, I wasn't about to let her know that as I just gave her a glare. She caught it and shrugged her shoulders at me as she reaffirmed, "C'mon Em, you know I'm right on that one. But… honestly, now that you said _all that_ , it actually all makes sense."

"Kitty, what are you talking about?" I questioned, still feeling a little offended, confused, and completely embarrassed.

"Hey, I'm just saying, when Owen and I were trying to hook you guys up during the race, I just kept thinking Noah was just nervous and socially awkward around you just because he had a serious crush on you, but now that I think about it, the fact you said he's _never done anything_ really doesn't surprise me and makes _a lot_ of sense for how he acted around you." She explained.

I gave her a look as I snapped a little, "And what of it?"

I saw her get a defensive look as she looked like she backtracked a little before responding, "Nothing! There's nothing wrong with it. It's just… _wow_."

I looked down for a second as she said, "Hey Em… I'm sorry for laughing before and I know I seemed like I was getting annoyed with you guys back during the race when all you guys did was distract each other, but you know I'm happy for you, right? Because I'm still seriously _so_ proud of you for liking Noah, especially considering I don't think you're going to find a guy who is just as much if not more of a snarky, smart mouthed know-it-all as you. And you know I mean that in the nicest way possible, right?"

As much as I wanted to make a remark of some kind, I didn't want to ruin this.

We both even laughed at what she just said, knowing how true it was.

I just smiled and said, "Thanks Kit. Um hey, I think Noah's coming out of the bathroom any second so..." "No worries. We'll talk later. Love you sis!" She said, smiling and giving me a wave.

I smirked a little back as I responded, "Love you too."

Right when I hung up, it's like I had a moment of reflection about how the race literally changed _everything_ in my life.

Up until the race, it was no secret that Kitty and I kind of _drifted apart_ a little after my relationship with Jake and the break up over the past 3 years. And now Kitty and I are just as close as we were back when we were kids.

The whole time she kept giving me a push to trust her help and to tell Noah how I felt during the race, so… I owe a lot to that.

Finally I went back to making french toast and finally got to putting the first 2 pieces of dipped bread into the pan.

Right as I flipped the bread over I heard, "Well, that smells like it can't possibly suck." I looked over and saw Noah, already dressed, but he was smirking at me as he started toweling off his hair to dry it.

I smirked back and replied, "Prepare to have french toast ruined for you forever by having it served _Park style._ "

He stopped and slung the towel over his shoulder before running his hands and fingers through his hair randomly until shaking his head like a wet dog a little bit. "Is that your usual _routine_ with your hair?" I asked.

Okay, I know everyone, especially Kitty, likes to make fun of me for how much I'm pretty much _infatuated_ with practically almost everything about Noah. But, honestly to me… ugh, Noah has _great_ hair.

He smirked at me before shrugging and explaining, "Eh, pretty much. I don't think I've used a comb or actually dried my hair for as long as I can remember. The way you and everyone else always sees my hair is usually just how it dries naturally. Hey, it's been working for me my whole life and I have no complaints. Especially considering the amount of time I usually spend shaving almost everything, it's an easy trade off."

I almost forgot about the _shaving thing_ with him. Whenever we all were stuck on planes together during the race between destinations, I always remembered seeing Noah and a lot of the other guys using electric razors to shave on the plane.

But, what always got me about Noah was I'd see him sitting in his seat and shaving his face and even his forearms sometimes on a _regular_ basis, which made me kind of intrigued.

Every time I saw Noah with his shirt off, and got past the inevitable _distraction_ , he had pretty much no body hair at all which kind of intrigued me for a guy in his early twenties.

"Why? Can't be as bad as shaving your legs in the shower once or twice a week." I teased, and also tried to subtly get him to elaborate.

"Oh trust me, when I say I shave _everything_ , I mean literally almost _everything_ and _constantly_ since I was 15 _._ Since all my brothers and I got the Mathai _wolfman genes_ , it makes the guys in our family look like the _Canadian Werewolf in Paris_. If I didn't shave anything for a week or two, I'd end up looking like my dad with a full beard and I'd look so hairy it would look like I had a few centimeters of what looks like carpet on my arms, legs, and even my chest to the point where it looks ridiculous and I knew everyone would be commenting on it more than my track record of staying on shows. Also, I'd be itching like crazy if I didn't. Makes sense why I wear long sleeves and pants all the time, right?" He explains, as something he said brought something else up in my mind.

When we all got back together during the finale, Noah and I were sitting and talking at the pool at the hotel we were at as Kitty and Owen were playing chicken with the step-brothers in the pool to kill time.

But one of the things we ended up asking each other about was our last names so we could exchange numbers and find each other on social media to stay in touch.

And also led to me getting in touch with more than _just_ Noah.

Anyway if I ever got married someday, I always thought changing my last name from 'Park' or at the very minimum hyphenating my last name is something that depended on my future husband's last name since it's something that would reflect on me professionally if I wanted to take the opportunity to change my name.

And look, I know Kitty told me to stop looking too far ahead in my relationship with Noah to keep myself from screwing things up, but not going to lie that Emma Mathai J.D. has a _pretty nice_ ring to it.

Also, if we had kids they would have a last name slightly earlier on in the alphabet and… Okay, maybe Kitty does have a point.

I shook the thought out of my head and tried to keep myself on track but also feeling curious as I asked, smirking a little, "Why? What's _Noah with a beard_ look like?"

He gave me a smirk and an eyebrow raise as he took his phone off my charger that I let him borrow after he told me about how his oldest nephew swiped his out of his bag before he left even though he told him he couldn't have it and looked like he was scrolling on his phone.

It looked like he finally found what he was looking for as he said, handing me his phone, "Fair warning, you _may_ regret still wanting to date me after you see this, but this is me after only a couple days of growth from when I was almost 19 during the World Tour season. I didn't leave my hotel room for 2 full days doing nothing but sleep and play Dragon Assassin before the finale."

I gave him a playful look back and was about to comment about _doubting that_ until my eyes went wide at what I was seeing.

Mostly because it was something that I didn't expect was possible. It looked like Noah took the picture in a hotel bathroom mirror with his usual deadpan facial expression and his face had a full yet short beard a little less than half a centimeter long.

Okay, again, I know this is me talking about Noah here but… ugh, he still looked _totally hot_ with a beard.

But, I wasn't about to say that out loud to his face and inflate his ego… and possibly make myself look creepy for the millionth time, so I tried to keep it cool as I handed the phone back and kept trying to keep myself from burning the french toast, "I mean, I prefer you clean shaven since to me kissing a guy with a beard is like making out with sandpaper, but… you definitely could pull off a beard."

"Thanks, but lucky for you, my own beard even makes me feel like I have sandpaper on my face, so… no worries on me ever wanting to grow it out, even though it's one of the few things seen as _manly_ that I have about me as my _roid monkey_ brothers like saying about me. But, like I care." He responded with a smirk as he put his phone into a pocket on his cargo pants.

All I could do was smirk until I shook my head a little as I finally wrapped up making breakfast and served it up for us at the breakfast bar I never use, pretty much considering I usually just take all my meals to eat at my desk usually.

But, considering Noah is my first guest in 2 months since mom, dad, and Kitty helped me move in at the beginning of my semester, I figured I can eat like a normal human being this morning.

I sat next to him at the counter and pushed his plate in front of him. I watched him as he took his first bite as his eyes went wide for a second before looking at me.

After he finally swallowed it as he said, "You're right, normal french toast is now ruined for me forever."

"I'll be sure to let my mom know I'm continuing to convert people into liking her recipe." I said back, letting out a laugh as we kept eating.

I was trying to come up with what to say until I started, "So, other than Owen, do you have any idea who else is going to be there on the new season?" Noah shrugged before answering, "Well to be honest, at least so far, Owen is the only one I know of out of every one I can stand. So far Cody isn't going to be there or even Tyler. Hey, the guy has almost nothing in his head, but at least I know he's least likely to stab me in the back. Then Alejandro and Heather are going to be there again, so that's _great_. And with my luck I'll probably be on a team with either or both of them. Hopefully not Alejandro if I had to pick since we both hate each other's guts to completion. Now that I said that, I probably just jinxed myself into being stuck with the eel again."

"What's Alejandro and Heather's deal anyway? Like _are_ they together or are they off? Or is that all fake? They seem like they can't stand each other most of the time. At least from what I've seen and don't know how much of that is real?" I pointed out, remembering what I saw from _World Tour_ , quirking up an eyebrow.

" _Oh,_ believe me. If there's such a thing as a true _on again-off again_ couple, then those two are pretty much always on but have a faulty and sociopathic light switch that's about as oily as they are. That and those 2 together are a natural _ratings magnet_ so go figure why they keep getting asked back. Besides, from my experience, let me tell you that there is _very_ little _fabrication_ on _Total Drama_ compared to most other reality shows _._ It's all shot at pretty much real time with episodes airing back to back with us filming. Pretty much as fast paced as the race. Also, the reason there is no _fabrication_ from writers and producers is because most of the contestants are either typically totally insane, a straight up idiot, or just total sociopaths so everything you see is actually not a bunch of BS. It's just _that_ crazy. But, can't say everyone isn't full of BS though… Then again after growing up being the youngest of 9, none of that even phases me. Only difference is that this season is probably going to be a _bit_ different from previous ones. It seems like this season is focused on _fan input._ That's why I was wondering why Owen and I didn't even need to audition since people actually voted for us to come back… probably just to see how much more insanity we can take. Then again I keep going back, so maybe I'm also just as crazy." He elaborates, taking another bite before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have a bunch of midterms in 3 weeks that might as well be organized by sociopaths with how criminally close they are together in the span of 3 days." I half joked, making me smirk when he let out a laugh before adding, "Guess that makes us both masochists. Then again, I need something to do that's not texting you constantly like some guy without a life. But at least you'll watch me while I decide to torture my sanity for a million bucks, right?"

I was expecting to see the smirk and eyebrow raise when I saw him _actually_ smiling a little at me.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" I responded confused, especially since I already told him last night I was going to watch him when he's on the show. "No reason." He said, no doing the _smirking eyebrow waggle thing_ at me before taking another sip of his coffee.

I smirked back and rolled my eyes as I was about to make a remark until a thought hit me as I said, "Wait here."

I immediately got up and ran to my room, wanting to do this before I totally forgot about it since he was here … and because I _really_ wanted this out of my space. After finally digging the envelope out of one of the desk drawers and realized how much I probably just confused Noah to completion just by the look on his face.

"Okay, I say a lot of weird things around you and you didn't ditch me, but right when I'm _actually_ being normal…" "C'mon Noah, its not that. I just wanted to make sure I gave this to you before you left… especially before you left for the new season." I interrupted, just handing him the envelope.

He kept giving me a confused look before he finally opened the envelope before he pointed out, "Wait… these are copies of your solo promo pictures for the race."

"Yes, that I _really_ don't want. Sure Kitty accuses me of being full of myself sometimes, but I'm not some narcissistic weirdo that wants a bunch of pictures I was forced to have taken of myself to put up all over the place. Besides, I know on Total Drama they have pretty strict policies on you guys keeping devices so, I figured you could take these and maybe take one of them with you on the show?" I said, thinking maybe that was a little bit too much.

I was about to say something when he kept looking through the pictures until he said, holding up one of them as he gave me a smirk, "I think I have some ideas on where to put these."

I gave him a look as I shoved his shoulder, reading the possible _subtext_ , as he responded, "What? I'm serious. I think this should keep me motivated."

He held up a picture of one of the _many_ head shots I had to take. It was one of me smiling looking over my shoulder, from the beginning of the photo shoot. I could tell because I didn't look bored out of my mind and done with the day quite yet.

I smiled a little at him after he said that.

_**3 Hours later** _

I was back to hitting the books again and really trying to hustle since I spent all that time slacking when Noah was over and if I have a snowflake's chance on the surface of the sun with making it further in my program, I needed to maintain my focus.

Even though I don't regret a minute of it since I don't even know the next time I'm going to see him with him being off on the new season, which I gave him a _kiss for luck_ … and also for _no other reason_ at all.

Ugh, seeing him off 2 hours ago completely sucked.

As much as we both knew he had to leave so he could go home and so I could study, it was hard.

But, it was also really sweet.

Right before he left and I was going to go back inside, he tapped on the inside of his window to get my attention to show me that he clipped one of my pictures on an air vent in his car.

Yeah, I really wanted those pictures out of my desk, but I'm also glad Noah wanted them because I _really_ wanted him to have them.

Sure, I can pull up videos of Noah so I can see him but compared to him, I don't really have too much out there other than what was filmed of me on the race, even my social media activity is pretty pathetic compared to most people.

Speaking of something like that and even though the date last night was _amazing_ , I just couldn't help but shake the feeling that somehow we were being… ugh, never mind, it was probably nothing.

I shook my head before looking back at my stack of textbooks.

I sighed before getting a determined expression on my face and saying to myself, almost giving a pep talk, "Alright Emma, let's do this."

_**1 day later** _

**(Noah's POV)**

I finally pulled in the driveway of my parents house.

I'm exhausted, I'm hungry, and my butt no longer has any feeling in it after driving for almost a full day and sleeping in my car for a couple hours at that creepy rest area again… but totally worth it.

I looked over at the picture of Emma that I clipped to my car vent with a paperclip and smirked.

_Oh yeah, totally worth it._

I would have probably just kept staring at it if I didn't have something slap against the driver's side window only to see Ben leaning on the car with his forearms and a smirk on his face.

I rolled my eyes as I gave him an unimpressed look.

Eventually I rolled down my window before remarking, "You know Ben, if I wanted a big, stupid gorilla leaning on my car, then I'd go on safari."

"Ah, c'mon little bro, lighten up for once. Can't I come out and help my little brother carry in his stuff? Considering you probably need it" He said, taking a jab at me.

He got out of my way a little as I just ignored him as I got out of my car and grabbed my duffle bag and jabbed back, "Help with what stuff? I have _a_ duffle bag."

As I was grabbing a few other things to shove into my bag, Ben leaned next to me on my car again and crossed his arms while giving me a smirk before starting, "So… how was the girlfriend?"

I thought his face was going split as he kept _eyeing me_.

I totally saw through what he was doing, so I just kept doing what I do best. I ignored him and pacified him with a simple answer to try to avoid the inevitable teasing, "Emma's fine."

I was about to try to walk in the house when Ben immediately cut me off as he said, "C'mon man, you know what I'm _really_ asking about here. So, _how was she?_ "

He started chuckling slyly to himself a little bit as I scowled in annoyance and rolled my eyes again, knowing he was trying to get _details_ out of me about _what I did_ with Emma, not that I'd tell him even if something did happen.

Honestly, this has been my life since I got home from the race when Emma and I started officially dating. Mainly that was the one thing everyone in my family completely attacked me at the front door with when I got home from the race.

Well, particularly that was one of the few times my brothers actually were _giving me props_ about something since they all up until that point saw me as practically some _weird, brainiac mole creature that stayed in his room all day_ , at least that's how my brother Adam describes me, and not that I could've cared less and still don't.

But, after they were done teasing me to death about how I acted around Emma, all my brothers kept trying to do was high five me or pat me on the back for _scoring a hot chick_ , using Ben's words.

And sure, yeah, Emma's totally hot but to me she's not _just that_.

To me Emma just has _everything_.

Sure my idiot brothers don't see stuff like that when I do.

There's a reason why she's the only girl I've _actually_ wanted to date and let myself fall apart and act like a total idiot over. Then don't even get me started on how my sisters were with me since they wouldn't shut up or let me leave the room until I told them _everything,_ well until I was able to escape to my room.

Ben just kept _giving me the eye_ until I said, "Ben, I only took Emma on a date, that's it."

I tried to step past him when he cut me off again and said, "Seriously man? You're telling me that you drove all the way to Toronto to see a girl _that_ hot and you didn't even get _any_ action? I'm calling BS."

I just kept glaring at him unimpressed as I responded coolly, "Well, sorry to _disappoint you_ , but I just took my girlfriend on a date to dinner and a movie. Now will you leave me alone? Besides, don't you have a protein shake to swill down or something?"

I could tell I was getting to him since his face looked like it was close to almost receding in on itself as his arms started shaking a little.

Then again, getting under someone's skin when they bother me is my specialty. Just like how I made the school bully cry back in grade 2 when I made fun of his shoes.

I was about to finally get past until Ben put his arm in my way and shoved me back a little as he said, holding the collar of my shirt one handed, "Look _egghead_ , I don't care what you say. Just admit you finally got some _real_ action for once from a chick that…"

I acted on impulse as I grabbed his wrist and gave him a hard glare.

**({No POV})**

Noah and Ben kept glaring at each other, well Noah was glaring while Ben was actually taken by surprise at his youngest brother actually _physically_ lashing back at him instead of just verbally and mentally like he usually does.

Sure Noah was not strong enough to throw off Ben's grip, but Ben could feel the _stern_ grip his brother was giving him as he let go of Noah's shirt, but Noah still retained his grip and his glare at his oldest brother.

It was silent until Noah directed, still in his even dry tone but also harboring some malice to it, "Say one more thing about me or Emma and so help me I will single handedly destroy you."

Ben just kept looking at Noah in total shock as his youngest brother finally let go and made his way into the house.

The door shut and Ben just stood out in the driveway in shock for several moments before his expression morphed into something that looked almost… _impressed._

Ben slowly smirked and ran a hand through his hair while letting out a 'hmph' before saying to himself, "Looks like my baby bro is more of a man than I thought..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Kitty wasn't the only one who assumed what happened between Noah and Emma. Haha. Anyway, I have always been intrigued by Noah's background and that it seemed like he was always described as being the runt of his 9 sibling litter and being an odd man out in his family. But, since nothing was elaborated on in the series, I decided to use my head canon and Noah is pretty much the only true intellectual of his family and that the rest of his family are the kind of people who encourage athletic achievement and he would probably have brothers and sisters who are all athletically inclined and don't understand Noah's complete disinterest in them. Particularly why he'd rather spend all his time by himself playing video games or having his nose constantly buried in books. So, I literally wanted to make Ben, Noah's oldest brother I took the liberty of coming up with, as being pretty much Noah's polar opposite as your typical meathead who gets easily frustrated by his youngest brother outsmarting and sassing him, even if he is an almost 40 year old man. Haha. XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed the longer chapter! As always, thank you so much for reading and constructive feedback and reviews are always appreciated!
> 
> Stay classy, healthy, and safe out there!
> 
> Dexter1995


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Thanks again for the amazing feedback in the reviews and PM's as always! Anyway, this chapter picks up a month after the previous chapter. Noah is just arriving to begin the latest season of Total Drama. Enjoy!

**(Noah's POV)**

I stepped out of the gate and made my way into the terminal and looked around until I saw this area sectioned off.

_TD contestants here._

Well, they're corralling us like farm animals and we haven't even gotten to our actual destination yet… why am I not surprised?

I sighed and rolled my eyes. All I could get was that butt crack of dawn flight on some sketchy small plane from Winnipeg to Yellowknife where I was told to show up for the new season and I still feel like I haven't fully woken up yet.

After scanning around, I looked over and saw a _very_ small coffee bar and the only thing in the terminal I could see other than chairs, and decided to grab a cup in the hopes that it would help me deal with everyone here today.

Right after I grabbed some coffee, I was about to take a sip when I heard whispers and squeals.

I looked over and saw these 2 girls about the same age as me looking in my direction and whispering to each other and looking _weirdly_ way too excited.

_Fan girls._

Honestly, ever since I was 16 and came home after the Island, even just in the short time I was on the show… people would recognize me, almost like some kind of celebrity. Yeah even I use that term _very_ loosely but every once in a while I get fans, usually girls in their teens or early twenties, asking if they could take a picture with me or get my autograph.

Sure, I know a lot of my _fellow competitors_ like the concept of being famous a little too much, but I mainly wanted to try out reality game shows for the money and never really got into it for _the fame_ at all really.

Honestly, my real goal was that I could use the money to buy myself my own place at one point once I was old enough and buy the parts to make an even better gaming computer than I have already so I could live on my own and play video games with no one bothering me ever.

Even though now what I'd _do with the money_ has kinda changed, especially _now_ …

But, I know that came with the price of being annoyed whenever I go into cities especially. There's always inevitably someone who comes up to me and annoys me persistently until I give them something. Honestly, how no one in Toronto came up to me when I was out on that date with Emma was _pretty weird_ and a miracle if I'm being honest.

After debating for a few moments, I sighed and just walked up to the girls with the idea of just _ripping off the inevitable_ _band aid_.

It was almost like they were so absorbed in whatever _fangirl ritual_ they were currently engrossed in that they both looked like their eyes were going to fall out of their heads by the time I got there.

I took a sip of my coffee as they continued to just stare at me before I just cut to the chase and said, "Okay, let's skip to the obvious. Yes, I'm Noah from _Total Drama_. Yes, I'm here cuz we're starting the latest season. _And_ yes, I'm not in the mood to deal with this right now, so if I give you guys an autograph or take a selfie with you then will you leave me alone?... And no, I will not sign anything _on you_ that could get me in either an awkward situation or trouble. Also, I'm not kissing anyone either."

Both of them were almost in a state of shock by my honest yet blunt response, but hey, I've been dealing with crazy fans for the past 5 years. You have no idea how many times I was asked if I could kiss someone or sign someone's butt out in public.

_People are insane…_

I quirked up an eyebrow as I waited for them to answer until I heard behind me in a familiar yell, "NOAH!"

My eyes went wide as I was about to turn around until I immediately felt Owen pick me up pull me into a suffocating hug.

"Hey there's my best buddy! I missed you man! That plane ride was SO scary." He exacerbated in his usual full of energy tone that I never have any idea how he's capable of having it.

He continued to squeeze me in the hug as I heard my joints cracking until I strained out, "Well… there goes my sternum."

Finally he released me and somehow I managed to still have my cup of coffee intact as he looked toward the girls and said, "Oh hey! Did you guys want a picture with us? C'mon, group photo everybody!"

The girls seemed to return to their previous state of excitement as Owen pulled all of us together for the picture. One of the girls immediately held out her phone and took the picture.

"Sweet! It was so cool meeting you! Me and Noah gotta start heading out for the new season. Have a good one guys!" Owen called out as we started walking away, and me questioning how he was able to have this much energy at 6:15 am.

We both started walking away as I heard Owen say, "Man, how've you been?! I haven't seen you since the finale of the race."

Shrugging, I took another sip of coffee and replied, "Eh, okay I guess? Won a couple Kosmic Kaos tournaments online, had to deal with Ben and his insane swarm of thieving raccoons 'aka my nephews', and then Emma…"

My thoughts stopped when I brought up Emma.

Since I knew service would probably be trash up in this part of the Northwest Territories, I made sure to video call Emma last night before I went to sleep since I probably wasn't going to be able to talk to her or even see her for _awhile_.

Man, I still can't believe I'm saying stuff like this now, but… I seriously miss her.

Ever since I went to see her in Toronto and even though I don't regret wasting 2 days of my life driving just to be able to see her at all, sometimes it felt like that was also the biggest mistake I could have made since I felt like that trip and seeing her just made me miss her more.

Sure, we made more of an effort to have video dates once a week when she had time between studying and it was great knowing I at least got to see her for an hour or two once a week until I had to go, but… _man_.

I was brought back when I heard Owen let out his usual laugh before saying, "Oh yeah! Kitty was telling me you guys went on a date about a month ago. Nice!"

I was about to respond when I quirked up an eyebrow at something he said as I stopped and questioned, "Wait, you've been talking to Kitty?"

"Oh yeah! We both traded numbers after the race was over. We texted each other sometimes and then we both found out that we only lived one town over from each other. Is that crazy or what?! So after that, then she'd always ask me if I wanted to hang out with her and her friends and THAT was _always_ such a blast! I went out with them one more time last night to a karaoke bar and THAT was so awesome!" Owen said with his usual over the top enthusiasm.

Okay… I can't believe this is even coming out of my thoughts, but… I don't think I have ever wanted to be Owen more in my entire life.

I knew Owen still lived at home like me and Emma told me Kitty was still living at home with their parents while she was going to a local college to study photography.

Which honestly kind of surprised me a little bit. Sure it seemed like Kitty was doing nothing but taking selfies and pictures with her phone in general almost constantly during the race, but according to Emma… Kitty is actually a pretty good photographer when she has her actual camera on her and has wanted to become a freelance photographer since grade 7.

She even showed me some pictures Kitty gave her to put up around her room and I had to admit… they were _actually_ pretty impressive.

I don't even care about photography and even I had to admit they were actually _pretty good._

But, anyway, I had to admit I was kind of jealous right now.

Sure Emma's in Toronto and not at her parent's house in the further northern Toronto suburbs, but… at this point I feel like I would have killed to live that close to Emma's parents house just so I didn't have to drive all the way out from Winnipeg.

Yeah, sure if I had to say I had a best friend, I'd say Owen probably was my closest thing to a best friend next to Cody or any of the guys in my underground Alliance for Dragon Assassin.

Sure, as much as it doesn't seem like it and _especially_ considering me and Owen are pretty much about as opposite as a pessimistic sloth and an overly friendly grizzly bear, but hey I always had to admit that the big guy has always had my back.

And as much as I hate to admit it, he was pretty much like my wingman trying to help me out with Emma so I gotta give him credit for that.

But again, I'm jealous.

I was about to comment on it until we got to the contestant check in and immediately ran into Chef, who still looked as agitated and crazy as I remembered.

He held out a bin as he said, "Okay kids, hand over the..." "Yeah, yeah, _hand over the phones_. Like we haven't _ever_ done _this_ before." I retorted and rolled my eyes.

I took out my phone and turned it off before putting it in the bin. I heard Chef grumble something at me that I couldn't care less about as I walked into the area while taking a sip of my coffee again.

After that Owen and I took a seat and waited for whatever was coming next. But, knowing this show, could be anything.

_Well, let the insanity begin… yet again._

_**2 hours later/ Toronto, ON** _

**(Emma's POV)**

Well, nothing says Saturday morning like getting started on writing a paper while eating a bowl of cereal and having a cup of coffee.

At this point though, I was about as ready as I could've been.

I already went jogging earlier this morning so I was ready to get going on this paper I needed finished two weeks from now.

But, the sooner I get this off my plate, the more time I can put into studying. I kept looking at all the bullet points I made on my outline as I started typing.

About 20 minutes into typing and taking a sip of coffee, I heard my phone go off with a notification. I picked it up and saw it was a text from Kitty.

Kitty: " _Hey, sis. Are you on your laptop? Got time to video chat, like now?"_

I quirked up an eyebrow in total confusion.

Me: " _I'm kind of in the middle of a paper. Can it wait?"_

I was about to start typing again and put my phone down, not wanting to let myself get distracted when Kitty replied almost instantaneously.

Kitty: " _Em, just trust me. You need to see this."_

As I tried to decipher whatever uncharacteristically ominous meaning that Kitty's text had, I immediately got an incoming video call notification from Kitty before I could even respond.

I had no idea what was happening as I continued to get more confused by whatever the hell was going on right now.

Annoyed, I picked up the call and was about to ask Kitty point blank what she had to tell me that was so important until I saw her and noticed how nervous she looked as she bit her lip at me before forcing a smile at me and waved a little.

I got a little creeped out for a moment as I started, "Um, Kit… what's going on? Is everything okay?"

She just continued to bite her lip and still looked really nervous, which wasn't helping me feel any better about what was happening. At first I thought something happened to her or mom and dad since I haven't seen her like this in a long time and I was about to keep questioning her until she finally sighed.

She looked back up at me and said, smiling but still looking uncharacteristically standoffish and awkward, "Hey Em, uh… okay, so… you know how I go out on Saturday mornings to old downtown to take pictures for my expressions in architecture class portfolio?"

I proceeded to keep an eyebrow quirked in confusion at her.

_Did she seriously call me to tell me about taking pictures?_

"Kitty, I don't have time for…" "Emma, just hear me out." She interrupted, looking serious.

Okay, Kitty is almost never this serious or nervous ever… so, I have no clue what's happening?

I stayed silent as I continued to show her how lost I felt about _whatever this was_ that was happening.

She sighed again before finally saying, "Well, I stopped off at _Cup of Joe's_ to get coffee on my way home and I was looking through the magazines on the rack near the cash register while I was waiting and… I saw _something_ in one of the monthly gossip magazines. Now, I don't want to freak you out or anything, but I just got kind of _concerned_ and I thought you needed to see this. I emailed you the link to the magazine's online edition. Just open it and go to page 18… Please?"

 _Concerned over a celebrity gossip magazine? And what does this have_ anything _to do with me?!_

"Um… sure?" I replied, feeling hesitant, annoyed, and mainly confused. I went to my email and saw what Kitty was talking about as I opened her email and the link.

In the process, I also decided to let Kitty share screens with me so she could show me whatever she was freaking out over.

Slowly I scrolled down the pdf until I got to page 18.

At the top of the page read the title of the article "Total Drama to Total Romance?" and got confused even more when it seemed to be an entire article that focused on Heather and Alejandro from _Total Drama_ and how they've been seen more and more in public together over the past year leading up to the recent season of the show and the speculations behind it.

I gave Kitty an annoyed look as I said, "Kit, are you serious? What does this have anything to do with anything?"

Right as I was about to continue to give an annoyed lecture about wasting my time with this she said, still sounding nervous, "Um… keep scrolling."

I gave her another look until I decided to keep humoring her by scrolling down and then… my entire thought process stopped dead in total shock when I saw a picture of Noah and I eating at the Greek restaurant near my apartment from our date last month.

Then I scrolled even more to see a few more pictures.

Both of us walking out from the movie theater, a picture of us from behind walking and holding hands, and then finally a picture of us shot at a slight distance of Noah and I kissing outside of my building after our date. My first thought was immediate after I snapped out of it.

"No…" I said under my breath as I started to read through the article:

* * *

"Hearts still Racing?"

_Though the Ridonculous Race has concluded nearly 3 months ago, it seems a race of sorts is still going on in some respects between two of its former contestants. Long time Total Drama contestant and everyone's favorite sarcastic know-it-all Noah Mathai (21) was seen going out on a date the previous month with fellow RR participant and law student Emma Park (22). The two met during the race and had quite the roller coaster of events leading up to their eventual romance. While competing on two different teams, Noah with his friend and fellow TD contestant Owen Koch (21) and Emma with her younger sister and photography student Kitty Park (20), the two developed mutual feelings for each other with the help and hindrance of their respective teammates and those feelings have now seemed to extend beyond the end of the competition. The two definitely appeared to be going steady as a local source showed the couple having dinner at Niko's, a popular Greek dining destination for Toronto based university students, before proceeding to see a movie at a nearby theater and then taking a walk hand in hand around downtown Toronto. As if that wasn't enough for you and though the date seemed to conclude with a goodnight kiss, the two were then seen both going into Emma's student apartment building almost immediately afterward for the remainder of the night. Either way, it seems that the hearts still appear to be racing between these two. Catch both Noah and Owen as they compete on the latest season of Total Drama premiering in 2 weeks!_

* * *

I was almost in a state of catatonic shock as I processed everything I just saw.

Although I didn't know how deep I was until I finally heard Kitty say, "Um Em, are you okay? Look, I'm sorry if I just completely freaked you out, but I knew it was totally wrong if I didn't tell you at all. Ugh, I'm even mad for you guys. Taking pictures like that and posting them without consent to me is just _so_ wrong and…"

I completely stopped listening as I finally snapped out of it as a thought hit me.

Immediately I grabbed my phone and called Noah, hoping with every fiber of my being that he hadn't given up his phone yet. I called and bit my lip.

_C'mon, c'mon…_

"Pick up, Noah…" I said out loud until the line dropped and so did my stomach as his phone immediately went to voicemail.

I hung up as another wave of shock and slight paranoia overtook me again.

_Oh… shit._

_What am I going to do now?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, looks like Emma's inclining was right about them being followed from the previous chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the update. More reference of Noah competing on Total Drama and of course more Nemma will be on the way! Have an awesome weekend and hope you all are continuing to stay healthy and safe.
> 
> Stay Classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay everyone! Noah is officially on the new TD season in this fanfic that should have happened in reality but didn't… not that I'm still not a little salty about it at all, obviously. Haha. But, for real, in this fanfic I am going to still be integrating Noah's perspective on the show in combination with Emma actually watching the episodes from her perspective as a viewer at home. For the later, when Emma is watching the episode from her perspective, I am going to display the episode in a sectioned off script type format to try to avoid confusion. Anyway, thank you guys so much for all the continued support! It really means a lot. :) This chapter starts in Noah's perspective while he is on the show and spending the evening interacting with his new teammates, well one in particular. Haha. ;) Enjoy!

**(Noah's POV)**

Well, that's done.

Day 1 is over with and I almost died by both Owen's driving to get us here AND a tree during the first challenge… and I wasn't even within 100 feet of _any_ trees when that happened.

_Whatever…_

What else did I expect from today? And at this point I have bigger problems.

As it is with how all the _odds_ worked out, I got a good news-bad news scenario.

Good news being that I got Owen on my team again so at least I have an automatic ally. Bad news is our team is VERY _villain heavy_ and I somehow managed to jinx myself with Emma by saying I didn't want Alejandro or Heather on my team… and take a crack at who's team ended up getting _both_ of them?

Then I don't really even know the rest of my teammates at all since they were fan favorites chosen from the other casts, or particularly one of them.

_Well… fantastic._

It almost felt like deja vu since we were back to being at an abandoned camp with cabins, except this used to be a mining camp back in the day rather than a summer camp like on the Island.

I sighed as I walked into the boys side of the cabin, a feeling I remembered all too well from day 1 of me being on this show. I opened the creaky screen door that looked like it was going to fall off the door frame at any second as I looked around the room and saw Owen and the two other guys on my team aside from me and Alejandro hanging out.

Yeah, now that I think about it, we're not only _v_ _illain heavy_ ; but also _guy heavy._

There's 14 of us total this season and our team somehow got 5 guys and only 2 girls. So right now, Heather is basically sharing the girl's side with this chick named Dawn.

Don't really know much about her, but from what I _have_ seen of her today especially… at this point I'm pretty much convinced she's either a witch or a ghost since she's snuck up on me and freaked me out to completion like 3 times today already because she kept telling me that she _couldn't get a good read on my aura_.

Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean?

But hey, at least the thought of Heather being stuck in the same room as her to creep her out every night kind of fills me with some weird sense of joy.

Well and I guess I shouldn't say I don't know the other guys, but I've just never talked to either of the guys or Dawn before I met them today.

Both of them were also from the season 4 cast, Brick and Scott.

Scott was laying down on his bunk whittling at a stick with a pocket knife. And Scott… well, to me Scott's pretty much a total dirt bag, but the guy isn't a _total_ moron and I knew he was a total devious snake too since he managed to get ahead by throwing challenges and eliminating people from his own team during his first season.

Then again he managed to get to the final four using that strategy so… hey, why not add one more person to the team who could possibly screw me over?

Then Brick was sitting on the edge of his bunk underneath Scott. He was shining his boots and looked up once he saw me and smiled as he stood up, hitting his head on the top bunk and winced before he recovered and gave me a salute while saying, "Nice to meet you, teammate! Corporal Brick McArthur at your service. Just got promoted in rank last week."

I quirked up an eyebrow, not knowing how to respond to _that_.

Eventually I did a mock salute back at him and responded, "Uh... _at ease_?"

Then luckily Owen _finally_ cut in and said, "Hey Noah, I saved you the top bunk."

I looked over my shoulder and smirked as I walked over and threw my suitcase on the top bunk before I pat Owen on the arm as I said, "Thanks big guy." Hey, at least I got Owen. Sure he almost killed us earlier, but it wasn't the first time either of us could've possibly died on this show?

I hopped up on my bunk and started unpacking a little bit. Well, at least getting what's _important_ all sorted.

I took the masking tape I packed just for this purpose as I ripped off a piece and looped it before sticking it to the back of one of the pictures Emma gave me and stuck it on the wall next to my bed.

_Ah… perfect._

After a second I decided to kick back in my bunk and pull out one of the books I packed to read, not caring which one it was.

Well, until I realized I still had my shoes on and hopped down to kick them off really quick until I stopped when the door creaked open again and I heard boots clomping on the creaky floor boards. We all stopped what we were doing and looked over.

_Alejandro._

He glanced around the cabin with his usual smirk that I wouldn't trust for any amount of money before greeting, "Buenas noches, gentleman."

It was completely silent until I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms before I shot back, "Assuming that's excluding yourself, _señor eel_?"

Not that he didn't look at me when he walked in, but he had his eyes narrowed at me now until he recovered his expression to his usual _charming yet sly_ schtick.

"Ah, Noah… so we cross paths again, eh _amigo?_ " He said, making his way across the room until he straightened up in front of me, clearly trying to intimidate me despite it not working at all.

_Well, he still definitely hates me… and honestly right back at 'em._

I just kept glaring right back at him as he started, "Anyway, I saw you've been continuing with trying your hand at other competitions, emphasis on _try_ by your usual subpar _results_ in competitions. Speaking of which…"

He looked over at my bunk next to us and saw him smirk as he looked at Emma's picture I just put up, making my jaw tense up.

"It slipped my mind that you have a novia now. Shocked as I am at how you _managed that_ , but I must admit... she is quite lovely. Tell me, how did it feel to make a fool of yourself on international television over your girlfriend when she dumped you for being a distraction to her, and quite pathetically on her part I might add, to make you fall apart and have her take you back out of pity?" He brought up, quirking up an eyebrow at me and smirking, clearly trying to get under my skin.

It almost worked as my hands clenched into fists for a brief second until I managed to push it down and crossed my arms again.

"Hey, c'mon guys, why don't we just…" Owen tried to cut in as I held out my hand to show him I had this before I replied, shrugging, "Well, I'm guessing probably not even close to the feeling of having your girlfriend knee you in the kiwis during a kiss and then shove you off a volcano on international TV."

He backed off of me with wide eyes for a second at me bringing up how Heather totally screwed him over back in season 3.

He looked like he was about to get in my face again when I heard a nasally yet subtle laugh as both of us looked over to see Scott, who hasn't said anything since I walked in, smirking and snickering to himself at what I just said.

Even though it was obvious, Alejandro looked over at Scott and trying to maintain his composure as he crossed his arms and questioned, "Is there something _humoring you_ , Scott?"

Scott didn't even look over at Alejandro as he kept whittling before he responded, "Take a wild guess, _Al_. Considerin' bookworm over here completely one up'd ya on yer girl."

He started laughing again as Alejandro took a couple steps toward Scott and said, sounding like he was trying to put him into submission, "Tell me, Scott. Would you like to be the first person on the _chopping block_ if we lose?"

Scott looked completely unimpressed as he hopped down from the top bunk before responding, pointing the end of the stick he was whittling right at Alejandro, "You threatenin' me, _rich boy_? Try me. I grew up on a dirt farm with 5 other siblings and was shootin' kitchen rats with a slingshot by the time I was 5. _And_ I was shoved into a robot suit to heal for almost a year as a droolin' vegetable just like you were cuz of a dang shark thing that wanted tah kill me! So… I dare ya, _Al._ "

As much as Alejandro was trying to cover it up, I could see him completely losing it inside and not going to lie… I was kind of enjoying watching him squirm.

Sure, I still don't trust Scott for anything at this point, but hey… gotta give credit where it's due.

Alejandro and Scott kept staring each other down until Alejandro took a step back and kept giving Scott a glare as he said, "I think I'll go for a walk to… _collect my thoughts._ "

I was about to make a comment on it but he already cut out of the cabin and sounded like he was trying to get Heather.

All of us were dead silent until we looked at Scott as he gave us a look and said, "What? I've had to deal with him and _Miss Personality_ annoyingly bickerin' at each other worse than my folks last time we were on a team and _no way_ am I lettin' _Fakeojandro_ push me around this season either."

After that Scott looked down at the stick he was whittling and said, "I need a new stick."

Then Scott took off out the door and the three of us were stuck there in total silence.

It stayed silent until I said out loud, knowing every bit of my voice was laced with sarcasm, "Well, this all seems like it'll be just _peachy."_

I started to change out of my clothes and to get ready to crash for the night, not even wanting to read anymore after _whatever that was_ that just happened.

Then again, what else was I possibly expecting from this?

I'm about as screwed as someone taunting a lion with a steak and expecting nothing to happen. But, then again… who am I kidding?

I've been through _way_ worse on this show.

_**1 week later** _

**(Emma's POV)**

I was walking back to my apartment after my last Friday class.

Right when I got to the front door to swipe my security card to get in, I stopped abruptly as I felt my stomach turn a little as paranoia overtook me for the umpteenth time this week. But, when I whipped my head around to see if anyone was watching me… nothing.

All I saw were 2 other people walking by with bags of groceries across the street, but that didn't mean that I still didn't key in and run up the stairs and all the way to my apartment like I was the last survivor in a horror movie. And it's not like me slamming my door behind me and locking it, throwing the dead bolt, and hooking up the security chain didn't help negate that attitude I was showing right now either.

I mean, honestly I would probably think I was looking certifiably insane if I looked at myself in the mirror.

But… CAN YOU BLAME ME?!

Ever since Kitty showed me that article about Noah and I in that one trashy gossip magazine almost a week ago, the article by the way was already a week old by the time Kitty even saw it… I have been in a near constant state of paranoia to the point where the only place I feel even remotely _fine_ is when I'm completely locked in my apartment like this.

Sure, I'm still completely freaked out, but again… CAN YOU BLAME ME?!

And it wasn't really even about the article, even though that was still sort of freaking me out since someone wrote about us like that.

But… ugh, it was those _damn_ pictures.

I mean, sure, I had no problem with us being on TV because at least then we both knew someone was filming.

But, those pictures are complete proof that someone was following Noah and I around during our whole date without us even knowing, which is _totally_ unsettling.

And at this point that's only the tip of the iceberg with my paranoia, because ever since then I have been freaked out to completion.

If someone was following us and taking pictures of Noah and I on our date, then… who's to say I'm not _still_ being followed?

Every day when I go out to class, I'm always looking over my shoulder to see if anyone is following me. Even though I don't see anyone, I just always have this _feeling_ like I'm being watched now.

Yeah, maybe it was just some lowlife paparazzi just following us to make a quick buck off of some pictures of us and hasn't followed since.

But that doesn't mean I'm still not freaked out! I didn't even go out to eat last Saturday!

I just literally ran to the grocery store across the street from my apartment and grabbed whatever I needed and a frozen dinner before sprinting back across the street to my apartment since I didn't even want to order take out or anything since I just wanted to get home.

And it also doesn't help that Noah's practically _off the grid_ on the show right now, so I can't even talk to him about this.

I sighed and leaned against the wall.

_Ugh… I seriously really miss him right now._

Not that I usually don't, but now that I can't even talk to him… this sucks.

Well, at least the season premiere of _Total Drama_ is in 3 hours.

Maybe I'll eat an early dinner and study to help me forget everything before watching it. Well… at least try to.

Yeah, I promised Noah I'd watch, but I also _really_ want to see him right now. And this is probably as close to interacting with Noah as I was going to get for a while.

First though, dinner and keep writing up my outline for my criminal law exam on Tuesday.

_**3 hours later** _

I made myself some tea in the hope it would calm me down, considering I still feel like the embodiment of that 80's one hit wonder about the guy who thought he was constantly being watched… honestly I've never related to a song so much in my life.

I sat down and took a sip as I tried to sink into my couch while the commercials were running until everything faded to black for a few seconds before it immediately went to the show.

* * *

_**(Chris was sitting on a camp stool next a campfire and kept stoking it with a stick until he looked toward the camera and flashed a smile.)** _

_**Chris:** _ _"The Northwest Territories of Canada, a beacon of nature's prime and site of riches in the weight of gold waiting to be claimed. Or at least it used to be. During the era of the North American gold rush, this abandoned mining camp was once home to desperate fortune hunting prospectors looking to strike gold. Now, this dried up, has-been mining settlement outside of Yellowknife is now what a different group of desperate fortune hunters are going to call home as they look to strike gold themselves and gain redemption with a cash prize of 1 million dollars, all based on the votes from our Total Drama fans! Who will win? Who will lose? Who will continue to make it out of this competition with any shred of their dignity left? Find out right here, right now on Total… Drama… Redemption!_

_**(The Intro ended as Chris walked up to the trail leading up to the abandoned mining camp.)** _

_**Chris:**_ " _And yet another season begins. Though this season is truly a season as advertised. Before the start of the season, rather than holding auditions or having an outrageous competition to decide the competitors... we decided to go a bit off menu. This time, we put the cast list this season fully to a fan vote on our Total Drama fansite. All fourteen contestants you are about to see are the winners selected by you viewers, 7 guys and 7 gals from our overall cast list. Or at least the ones that still wanted to come back. Hehe… So… let the introductions begin, shall we? First up…"_

* * *

I heard knocking and whipped my head over.

At first I was annoyed, but then I immediately got that sinking feeling in my stomach.

Slowly I got up from my couch and then immediately ran into my room really quick to get my old softball bat. Okay sure, I have a black belt in Judo, but that doesn't mean that I still don't feel comfortable living in a city apartment alone without having a little extra _reassurance_ in case some psycho breaks in.

I brought the bat up as I approached the door and then slowly looked through the peephole only to grunt a little and roll my eyes in annoyance.

_Ugh, are you serious, Rachel?!_

I unlocked everything as I opened the door and just sharply came out with, "What?"

But, it's like she was completely oblivious to my tone as she just smiled and said, "Hey Emma! My friends and I weren't able to get together for our Thursday game night and decided to have it tonight instead. So I thought I'd invite over my favorite neighbor!"

_Okay, seriously, how delusional is this woman?_

I decided to not even prolong this any longer than I had to as I just said, "No thanks. Kind of in the middle of something here."

* * *

_**Chris:** _ _"Next up! Geoff and silent B, aka Beverly! Hehe… "_

* * *

Rachel looked past my shoulder and immediately got an excited expression on her face as she started, "Oh my gosh! You watch _Total Drama_?! I haven't seen it in forever and I only saw season 4, but I totally forgot the season premiere was tonight! Maybe we can watch it together sometime?"

 _Okay, I've had it_.

"No." Was all I answered as I shut the door and locked everything up again.

I know that was probably very rude under normal circumstances, but at the same time I was still holding my bat and I didn't want to give myself any ideas by prolonging the conversation since I was still mad at her for denting my wall.

Also, I was questioning how she didn't recognize Noah, but then again if her obliviousness with me is anything to show for it? Not surprised.

And I know that Noah was hardly in season 4 anyway.

I walked back to the TV and sat down on the couch, just hoping Rachel's _interruption_ didn't make me miss Noah's introduction.

* * *

_**Chris: (surveys the contestants lined up and starts counting.)** _ _"Alright, I think that's… wait. Nope, we're still down 2 dudes. Chef, I thought you said we had no 'no shows'?"_

_**Chef: (narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms at Chris in minor offense at the questioning of his competence)**_ _"Hey, check the list, everyone_ was _accounted for."_

_**Chris:** _ _"Well then why am I only counting 12 out the…"_

_**(Chris stopped talking as Noah and Owen started slowly walking up the path. Both of them were covered in dirt smudges and had leaves in their hair that went along with the horrified expressions on their faces. Noah's expression was blank except for wide eyes as he was still holding his coffee cup, but had crushed it and dried coffee now stained his hand. Owen, looking equally horrified and also embarrassed was holding a steering wheel that was no longer attached to their respective gator that all the contestants drove up in twos with.)** _

_**Chris: (Giving the two confused glares.)** _ _"Where were you guys?! Weren't you the first two contestants to arrive at the airport?"_

_**(Owen and Noah just kept looking forward in horrified shock and not acknowledging Chris's question at first, almost like they were recalling the incident as if it were a war flashback.)** _

_**Noah:** _ _"We're not going to talk about it."_

_***Rolling footage from 15 minutes prior to them arriving.*** _

_**(Noah and Owen were careening down a hill at far more than top speed with Owen driving the gator, or supposedly driving.)** _

_**Noah: (Looking terrified and clutching the sides of his seat for dear life.)** _ _"WHY ARE YOU HITTING THE ACCELERATOR DOWN A HILL?! HIT THE BRAKES!"_

_**Owen: (Looking just as terrified as he bit his lip while gripping the gator's steering wheel with a tight death grip.)** _ _"I'M TRYING, BUT IT'S NOT WORKING! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"_

_**Noah:** _ _"AGH! WHY DID I EVEN AGREE TO LET YOU DRI…"_

_**Noah and Owen:** _ _"AHHHHHHH!"_ _**(Both of them continued to scream in terror as they flew off the road and into the woods before a crash was heard.)** _

_***Flashback clip ended and returned to their present moment of still showing Noah and Owen in a state of shock.*** _

_**Chris:**_ _**(Tilting his head at the two.)**_ _"Right… But how did you guys even…"_

 _ **Noah:**_ _"NOT talking about it."_ _**(He said with emphasis as he just dropped his crushed coffee cup and then proceeded to ruffle the leaves out of his hair before joining the other contestants.)**_

_**(Owen; meanwhile, let the shock of the situation get to him as he just fell over on his back with the steering wheel still clutched with the jaws of life by his hands.)** _

_**Chris:**_ _"Alright… moving on then… We'll be right back with the first challenge after this!"_

* * *

I couldn't stop myself from smiling and laughing so hard for the first time in a _really_ long time and pretty much laughing to the point of tears at what just happened.

Yeah, I was concerned a little bit, but after everything thing I remembered watching Owen and Noah go through in the race… that's _so_ like them to have that kind of thing happen to them.

I think this was up there with that time I saw Owen trying to keep Noah from pretty much blowing away off the sky deck.

Again, not that it wasn't concerning, but… what I just saw right now was textbook Noah and Owen. Honestly for the first time watching _Total Drama_ as it airs… I could kind of see why Kitty liked watching this when we were in high school.

Sure, I'm still not a fan of reality TV by any stretch, but I could definitely see why people find it entertaining.

But, the challenge was a race/obstacle course to help decide the teams and wrap up the first episode. And… I think Noah jinxed himself since he ended up with Heather and Alejandro on his team so he's probably _loving that,_ but hey at least he has Owen.

Either way, this is going to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… I really hope I was able to pull off the integration of portraying Emma as a viewer actively watching the new TD season without it being too all over the place. And honestly this right here was more how I wished All-Stars would have gone. Particularly, I thought Dawn and Brick should have been in All-Stars since I feel like their characters were more of fan favorites than say Lightning, Jo, or even Sam. Not that they aren't good! It's just that, I just see after looking at multiple forums and fan sites that it just seems like Brick and Dawn got a lot more love from the fans to actually make them "All-Stars" quality. But that's just me. Also, while we're on this topic… what the #% $ happened to Scott in All-Stars? Okay, I know All-Stars did many unpopular things to many characters, but Scott was literally like a completely different person between ROTI and All-Stars. He went from being this cruel, calculating, and devious villain who was responsible for the wracking up almost as many eliminations as Alejandro and Heather, to being this dimwitted and bumbling idiot in All-Stars. Sure he was good comic relief and probably one of the few genuinely funny characters in the season, but it was just like he became a completely different character and a mere shadow of what he once was. So, that was why I kind of reverted his character back to more of his ROTI side since to me that would have made for different yet interesting interactions. Like I would have loved a solid Scott and Healther/Alejandro rivalry. Like while on the Villainous Vultures, Scott would just be so done and so at odds with both Heather and Alejandro with their constant lover's quarrels and because he'd probably just see them as annoying and privileged rich kids and have an inherent disdain for them because of it. Even though for me, Heather is literally my favorite TD character and her and Alejandro are probably the most well done pairing that was set up in the whole show in my opinion. That and they are so perfect together that they are literally a match made in Hell. Haha. XD Anyway, rant aside, just think of things this way that in my fanfic, All-Stars did technically happen, but not necessarily in the way it actually happened. Pretty much like a slight AU. Okay, rant over. Haha. Let me know what you guys thought! Constructive reviews and messages are always very much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read and hope you all are staying safe out there!
> 
> Stay classy and healthy!
> 
> Dexter1995


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everyone! Just a little mental preparation for this chapter. The majority of this chapter is going to be from Emma's perspective as a viewer of another episode of Total Drama. Also, let's say there will be some added interactions in this chapter to make things a bit more interesting. Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

**(Emma's POV)**

I was trying to run to my living room after I got so sucked into a research paper until I realized the show was starting in less than 5 minutes.

Sure, I could always just watch it when it's up on streaming the following morning, but… I don't care?

I'm still in a near constant state of paranoia, but watching Noah every week right now is one of the few things that keeps me sane.

Especially since last week… I felt my paranoia suddenly get replaced by guilt again.

When the 2nd episode premiered last week, it opened on Noah's team and immediately on Noah putting up one of the pictures I gave him next to his bunk.

And not going to lie that I was _extremely_ touched by it and it practically brought me to the point of having a _Noah-daze_ for the first time in months since the race.

Well… until Alejandro walked in and he and Noah _got into it_ a little.

Pretty much to the point where Alejandro actually dragged _me_ into it and started pretty much trying to verbally pick at Noah and get in his head by bringing up our temporary _break_ until Noah actually defended us, kind of.

Well, more he managed to get right back at Alejandro with a pretty good comeback like he usually does.

Sure, we talked about that whole _situation_ with our break during the race and Noah told me to forget about it and that he didn't care, but that still doesn't mean I don't feel guilty sometimes.

 _Very_ guilty.

Even though _after it happened,_ Noah was _clearly_ broken but that didn't mean I also wasn't in my own way.

Even though it ripped me apart to do it internally and I knew I needed to slow things down, but I also knew my initial way of going at it was the worst thing I could've done looking back on it.

It wasn't Noah's fault that I just turn into a total borderline obsessive mess when it comes to relationships.

Ugh, I should have just told him initially I just wanted us to wait until after the race was over to date like I did when I apologized to him to get him out of his _funk_ … and also because I spent that whole challenge in Alberta having my own guilt driven breakdown over seeing him like that and I just couldn't take it anymore.

But, Alejandro just had to bring _that_ back up and Noah was actually kind of defending us in his own _smart ass way_.

I'll admit it… I was touched.

But, other than that, Noah's team has actually been doing okay. They won last week's challenge. Barely, but they still won. Especially considering it was a challenge that actually required teamwork in an extreme relay race and considering the kinds of people on Noah's team… it was kind of a _shocker_.

I was brought back when I heard Chris start talking on the TV, but he was just going over the recap of the last episode and I just tuned most of it out since it was mostly about the other team.

* * *

_**(Intro ends and opens on the old mining camp cabin bunk houses. The camp was dark and it was the night after the most recent elimination. The camera panned around the camp until it settled on the latrine slightly off in the distance as Noah walked out with a towel over his shoulder, having just washed up before bunking down for the night. He yawned and looked like he was about to make the walk back when he stopped as he heard a slight 'thump' behind him. He looked over his shoulder, quirking up an eyebrow in inquisition at what he heard. Though he looked like he was about to turn and keep heading back to the cabin until he kept hearing noises from behind the building.)** _

_**Noah:**_ _**(Sighing but still maintaining his usual deadpan facial expression before saying to himself.)**_ " _Guessing I'm probably going to regret doing this; but hey, at this point…_ why not _?"_

_**(Noah carefully moved toward the back of the building where he kept hearing the noises get slightly louder until he craned his neck around the corner and immediately went wide eyed and froze up at what he was seeing. Alejandro and Heather were behind the latrine building making out, both of whom were being completely all over each other. Heather had her arms wrapped around his neck as she had her back up against the wall of the building with Alejandro standing in front of her with his hands resting on her waist. But it wasn't even a second as Alejandro slowly slid his hands down to her thighs before slowly smoothing them back up until his hands were starting to inch their way up her shorts. Noah; however, finally snapped himself back around the corner and pressed himself against the wall. His expression was a cocktail of both disgust and completely disturbed about walking in on the last two people he'd ever want to see making out aside from anyone in his family.)** _

_**Noah:**_ _**(Maintaining the disgusted and disturbed energy about him at the moment. Before returning to his usual deadpan and also borderline annoyed expression and then started talking to himself in a sarcastic tone quiet enough for only him to hear.)**_ " _Well, that's definitely_ not _going to be lining the insides of my nightmares tonight."_

* * *

I couldn't stop myself from laughing even though I had to try and cut myself off since I didn't want to miss a second of what was happening.

* * *

 _ **(Noah looked like he was about to finally go back to the cabin, and also reevaluate why he thought even trying to see**_ **what was going on** _**was even remotely good idea since he just had a look about him like he either wanted to puke in disgust or pour bleach directly into his head after**_ **that.** _**He rolled his eyes and shuddered slightly until he stopped at what he heard next. Back around the corner, Heather put Alejandro at an arm's length, having her usual annoyed look about her as she gave him a glare.**_ **)**

 _ **Heather:**_ " _Hey_ handsy _, I thought you asked me to come here to talk strategy? Not_ change the subject _to_ feeling me up _."_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(All he did was regard her with a quirked up eyebrow and knowing smirk as he responded smoothly, seeing through Heather's typical response when they were out in a more public setting.)**_ " _Oh Heather... there's no need to be like that when we're alone, mi amor. You know I can't help myself when it's just us, and I know I'm not alone in that between us. Actually, if you're calling me '_ handsy', _then who was the one who initiated_ that act _when we rounded the corner behind here?"_

 _ **Heather:**_ _**(Clearly fighting a slightly embarrassed and flustered blush, she managed to conceal it under her usual stubbornness as she**_ **gave him a shove and then followed it with the cold shoulder** _**before responding in flustered annoyance.)**_ " _Yeah, right? You wish."_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(He still wasn't even remotely phased at her responses that he was so used to after knowing and being with Heather this long. Holding a smirk, he went up behind Heather and put his hands on her sides again and put his lips close to her left ear and started speaking in a slow yet flirtatious and almost seductive tone.)**_ " _Come now Heather, I thought we agreed we were both past fighting each other like this? Particularly since we are on the same team now in more ways than one,_ future Mrs. Alejandro Burromuerto."

_**(Heather's eyes went wide in shock as the camera took the opportunity to snag a look at Noah's reaction as he continued to listen in to the situation, showing his expression to continue to contort in a mixture of conflicted and confused thoughts as he looked like he was trying to process what he just heard Alejandro admit as he continued to keep himself braced against the wall on the adjacent side of the building. Well, until the camera went back to show a still wide eyed Heather until she turned around to face Alejandro again before jabbing him in the chest with her left index finger.)** _

_**Heather:**_ _**(Now narrowing her eyes and talking through her teeth slightly in frustration at her fiancé.)**_ " _Will you stop it?! Do you want to announce that any louder for any idiot that can hear?! I thought we agreed to keep our mouths shut about it until this season was over? Or do you want to give anyone leverage to use against us? The more people know about you, the more they can use it against you. Or have you forgotten that basic rule since your ego seems to take over more of your big fat head everytime we discuss anything?"_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(Not even remotely phased by her shallow insults that had no weight to them now since he knew the real truth of her feelings for him.)**_ " _Well, do you see anyone else around? And even with cameras watching, that won't affect the game for us since even before now the only ones that knew of us were our families. Besides, this wasn't the same attitude I saw from you when you mutually agreed to the idea."_

 _ **Heather:**_ _**(Although clearly frustrated and flustered at the truth of his words. She still looked determined to dig in her heels and maintain her self control as she crossed her arms and directed.)**_ " _Even though our families knowing about us doesn't help the cause with why it's pointless to discuss this right now? Or do I need to bring up how your mom feels about 'the idea'? You know, considering at this point she still definitely hates me."_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(Looking clearly like he was trying to skirt the issue.)**_ " _Mother doesn't_ hate _you. She just doesn't…_ understand. _She just needs time to_ warm up _to everything."_

 _ **Heather:**_ _**(Heather continued to cross her arms as she raised an eyebrow at him.)**_ " _Oh really? Then your mom passive aggressively introducing me as the 'young woman my son decided to marry' to your cousins at that family party before we left rather than calling me 'your fiancé' was not a sign that she hates me?_ Yeah _, like she doesn't know I understood that despite her saying it in Spanish..."_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(Looking frustrated for a split second, knowing deep down Heather wasn't wrong, straightened up and sighed.)**_ " _I'm assuming that means you'd rather discuss strategy now?"_

 _ **Heather:**_ _**(Smirking at getting her way to herself before turning to face Alejandro again.)**_ " _I thought you'd never ask."_

_**(The camera showed Noah again, who was still pressed against the wall listening in and mouthed 'FINALLY!' to himself after looking like he had just experienced a degree of mental torture after forcing himself to listen to that entire conversation just to get to this point.)** _

_**Alejandro:**_ " _Very well then. Should we lose the next challenge, we need to talk about who to cut from the team."_

 _ **Heather:**_ " _Agreed._ Moon child _definitely needs to go."_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ " _Dawn? I mean, granted she's a little…_ odd, _but she seems relatively harmless at this point. I'd say we should aim for Scott or Noah. Besides it's logical to eliminate them to even the odds more in your favor of the ratio on the team."_

 _ **Heather:**_ _**(Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms again.)**_ " _A little odd? Do you have to share a room with_ Creeptastic Cathy _every night?! When she's not talking to animals out the window, she's always sitting on her bed looking at me when I wake up and then tells me disturbing things about myself that she has no way of knowing. And don't even get me started on this morning."_

_***Rolling footage from earlier that morning.*** _

_**(Heather was waking up and her eyes slowly opened until her eyes went wide when she saw Dawn already awake and dressed sitting in a semi-meditative pose on her bed and looking at Heather. Despite this not being the first time this happened, it still didn't mean that it didn't creep Heather out as she sat up but retained her usual attitude.)** _

_**Heather:**_ _**(Narrowing her eyes and raising an eyebrow before directing in defensiveness at Dawn.)**_ " _Can I help you?"_

 _ **Dawn:**_ _**(Retaining her usual even, neutral, and soft spoken demeanor as she remained in her position.)**_ " _The way you act and lash out is due to a lack of attention in your childhood from your parents playing favoritism with your younger siblings."_

_**(Heather remained silent and looked at Dawn wide eyed as uncomfortable silence consumed the entire room.)** _

_***Flashback clip ended and returned to the present moment with Alejandro and Heather.*** _

_**Alejandro:**_ _**(Looking like he was debating, decided to go at things from a different angle.)**_ " _Well then, let's discuss what we do at least agree on with our team and run through our options. Particularly, I think we can agree that Owen and Brick are both a non-threat. As much as I find Owen annoying, he's not remotely a threat at this point. And Brick… well, he's placid enough to follow any orders given to him so if anything he's an asset for us to keep around."_

 _ **(Heather nodded her head in agreement and looked like she was about to say something until they heard creaking until what sounded a loud crack and a crash was heard around the corner from them. The two exchanged looks and then looked around the corner just in time to see a wall on the latrine had given way to rot as well as**_ **something else** _**when they saw a familiar pair of sneakers sticking out from the wall.)**_

 _ **Noah:**_ _**(Laying on the floor of the men's side of the latrine and covered in rotted boards from the wall he fell through and was also groaning in slight pain.)**_ " _Ugh, why am I always the one getting…"_

_**(Noah started tossing boards off himself until he looked up only to see boots and a pair of wedge sandals he knew all too well as he kept looking up to see both Alejandro and Heather with their arms crossed and eyes narrowed at him.)** _

_**Noah:**_ _**(Though still having his usual deadpan facial expression, expressed his internal feeling out loud on reflex at obviously being caught.)**_ " _Well... #$% &."_

_**(It was an intense and also awkward standoff between the three as Alejandro and Heather kept staring down Noah. Even though it was obviously understood that Noah was sure he was caught just as much as Alejandro and Heather knew that Noah was listening in on them.)** _

_**Alejandro:**_ _**(His expression slowly forming into a sly smirk as his eyes continued to narrow at Noah like a snake about to strike at its prey as he spoke to Heather.)**_ " _Well, well… it looks like the decision on who to eliminate next has become quite easy, hasn't it?"_

_**(Noah, although internally clearly freaking out over being caught like this, kept his even outward demeanor as he tried to think of what to do. The wheels clearly turning in his head until it looked like a thought struck him. He stood up and crossed his arms back at them.)** _

_**Noah:**_ _**(Quirking up an eyebrow)**_ " _Sure about that? I beg to differ. If anything at this point, you're stuck with keeping me around if you want to stay."_

 _ **Heather:**_ _**(Stepping forward with an annoyed expression as she gripped the collar of Noah's shirt and narrowed her eyes at him.)**_ " _What are you talking about, you sarcastic little dweeb?"_

 _ **Noah:**_ _**(With his current plan in mind, maintained an unimpressed and matter of fact expression.)**_ " _I'm saying that I know things now that you guys can't risk getting out. Because I'm sure Brick and Scott especially would_ love _to know what I just heard. And particularly I'm guessing you'd especially be_ ecstatic _if I mention what I know about you two to anyone. Had I known, maybe I would've got a greeting card, but I assume they don't make a card for an engagement between two oily snakes."_

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(He put his hands on his sides in a power stance and continued to give Noah both a confused and annoyed look, particularly at Noah's last sarcastic remark.)**_ " _I'm not following your logic,_ amigo. _Considering that everything you just said should only ensure that we have you taken out sooner rather than later. Does it not?"_

 _ **Noah:**_ _**(Still having his shirt collar held by an annoyed and angry Heather, yet still maintained his usual expression.)**_ " _You just answered your own question,_ Al. _Think about it. The moment you guys have me booted, I'll spill everything to everyone on the team. And I'm not going to use hints this time,_ señor eel _. The moment I'm eliminated, I tell everyone everything I heard and you'll be stuck with whatever happens afterwards. My guess being that neither of you will last long in the game after. Right, am I not?"_

_**(Alejandro was clearly looking infuriated at Noah almost mocking him at the end of his last statement, almost remembering part of the reason why he can't stand him. Heather; however, seemed to be on the same page but approaching the situation differently.)** _

_**Heather:**_ _**(Making Alejandro and Noah go wide eyed for a moment as Heather actually lifted Noah off the ground by his shirt with both her hands.)**_ " _Listen you little twerp. If you think that you can just…"_

 _ **Noah:**_ _**(Putting his hands up to cut Heather off in defense.)**_ " _Hey, easy_ queen bee _, I think we can come to some sort of an agreement over this where all of us can get what we want here."_

* * *

I leaned forward and tilted my head, trying to figure out what he was even trying to do right now?

* * *

_**(Alejandro and Heather exchanged looks before Alejandro gave Heather a nod. Heather narrowed her eyes at Noah before letting him go and taking a few steps back until she was back next to Alejandro and crossing her arms, but still giving Noah a complete death glare. Even though Alejandro wasn't too far off from Heather at this point either as they both steaded their gaze at Noah intently.)** _

_**Noah:**_ _**(Straightening out his shirts for a second before looking back at Alejandro and Heather, looking like he was preparing to make an important business proposition.)**_ " _Look, I'll promise to keep everything I heard here underwraps and not mention anything to anyone. But... I have a few_ conditions."

 _ **Alejandro:**_ _**(Exchanging a quick glance with Heather before looking back at Noah, who was still standing his ground with his deadpan yet steady expression, with a skeptical gaze.)**_ " _What do you have in mind then?"_

_***{Confessional: Noah}*** _

_**Noah:**_ " _Okay, look, I know this isn't the kind of thing I usually do. Sure, blackmailing '_ El Diablo' _and '_ The Mistress of Evil' _?… yeah, that's not a problem for me after the times both of them screwed me over in the past. It's just going to make this very_ tedious _and_ difficult _. But… dude, I am_ so _done with losing. That's right. Don't think I don't see all the blogs and the posts and the memes about me constantly being the_ running gag _on this stupid show of not even being able to ever make it to a merge much less win anything. But, that stops now. At this point, that million is going to be mine if I have anything to do with it. Especially since..."_

_**(Noah paused and looked like he was trying to collect himself until he let out a sigh and his expression almost taking on a serious and intense look to it.)** _

_**Noah:**_ " _Yeah, I want to win this just to finally get out of that stupid rutt but, I also just really want to do this for_ something else _... My girlfriend Emma got totally screwed out of her chance at winning the million during the race just because of a total fluke with her sister's oxygen tank getting caught and being forced to ditch it in the final four. So from here on out; if I win, I'm going to take half of the million and give it to my girlfriend to help her pay for law school. And you can quote me on that."_

_***{End Confessional}*** _

_**(The show cut off there and went to commercial.)** _

* * *

Almost immediately, I felt my whole body go into a state of almost catatonic shock as my mouth fell open slightly at what I just saw.

The TV remote fell out of my hands on the floor and I made absolutely no effort to get it as my brain just kept processing.

I was practically so _out of it_ for almost a full minute until I finally noticed my phone practically having convulsions on the coffee table at the amount of texts I was getting.

Eventually I got enough of a grip over myself to pick up my phone. I saw seven new texts from Kitty and I didn't even need to open them to obviously know what they were saying after _what just happened_ _ **.**_

I almost jumped as I was going to slip into the vortex that was my thought process right now until I realized Kitty was calling me.

Mindlessly, I picked up the call and barely got out a 'hey' as Kitty started, "Em, are you watching _Total Drama_? Did you see what Noah just… Emma?" I heard Kitty try to get my attention a few more times since I remained unresponsive as I kept trying to process _this_.

 _Noah wants to win…_ and _give me half the money to help me pay for law school?_

Eventually I got enough mental capacity to say, "I'll call you back, sis."

I hung up without waiting for a response as I continued to wrap my head around everything I just took in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know that was kind of a lot all in one chapter, but this chapter was really only a set up for more to come in the story. But… looks like Noah unintentionally found a way to help him get ahead in the competition, even if at Alejandro and Heather's expense. Oh, how the tables have turned on our favorite dastardly duo. Lol. XD And it also looks like Noah just gave Emma quite a bit to process as well. What will possibly happen next? Find out next time! Thanks for reading as always and constructive feedback is always appreciated. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope you are all continuing to stay safe and healthy out there. :)
> 
> Stay Classy everyone!
> 
> Dexter1995


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I just wanted to say thank you guys so much for the constructive feedback last chapter! That one was a very difficult one to write, but I promise that was the most that script format will be used in a chapter. To me, I just wanted to make sure to capture Emma's reaction to what Noah did and said in that particular chapter. But, I was so happy to hear how much you all enjoyed my Aleheather interaction! As I keep saying, Alejandro and Heather as both characters and a couple is just my favorite thing ever, even after all these years. So, I am so happy to hear you guys enjoyed how I portrayed them in the previous chapter. Particularly with Heather still playing hard to get with Alejandro despite being engaged to him. XD I could just totally see her being all over him in private, but being in total denial when she knows others are watching to keep herself from seeming weak out in public. But, what else would we expect from our favorite love to hate queen bee, right? Haha. Anyway, this chapter kind of jumps back slightly with it being Noah's perspective following the morning after he completely entrapped Heather and Alejandro into an alliance with him. Enjoy!

**(Noah's POV)**

We were all in the dining hall sitting at our separate team tables.

Even though I was hardly eating, and that had nothing to do with the food… well okay, honestly kind of the food too considering Chef's usual subpar cooking, and that's talking about him on a good day.

Mostly I wasn't eating since Alejandro and Heather were practically giving me the most subtle yet intense death glares from across the table.

But, after last night… not hard to guess why?

Sure, those two saying they were engaged, yeah _definitely_ not surprised there.

Believe me, I'm about as shocked as I was at the season 3 finale as I am here… which was not shocked or surprised at all. Even though in my mind I have no idea what evil cult leader and/or greater demon they have lined up to officiate their future wedding since I just can't see what sane minister and/or judge would want to be anywhere near them _._

But, hey, to each their own.

What I am still kind of surprised about was how they actually fully agreed to all my terms.

Term 1 was obvious in that they couldn't double cross me to vote me out or else I'd tell everyone everything.

Term 2 was they had to include me in all their voting decisions. Which then crosses over to Term 3 that they would not vote out Owen on the condition that I'd get Owen to vote with us too but not tell him anything about our agreement.

Which is fair since Owen is by far the worst person to tell a secret to that I have ever met… well apart from my sisters.

Hey, I love the big guy and I'll always have his back like he has mine… but I don't trust him with any secrets unless I _actually_ want everyone to know about something.

But, I think they seemed okay with it just because that would always make sure that whoever we vote against is eliminated by default.

And honestly it makes no difference to me with the rest of my teammates.

If any of them go… so be it.

Although at least we are in agreement of keeping Brick around. Brick's not a bad guy and at least he doesn't creep me out like Dawn or seem untrustworthy, i.e. Scott.

Sure, I can _appreciate_ Scott for being one of the few people I've seen other than me and Heather to totally stick it to Alejandro, but otherwise at this point… dude, Scott's number 1 on my 'boot list'.

The other day I fell out of my bunk after having _something._

Possibly a dream _I don't want to talk about that maybe had to do with Emma, but shut up because that doesn't matter_ and…

_**3 days ago** _

**({No POV})**

All the guys, with the exception of Alejandro who was already getting ready before everyone else and Brick who was out for his morning 5 K, were all still sleeping.

Noah was slowly but surely drifting toward the end of his bed with a slight smile on his face until he accidentally tossed himself a smidge too far over the side of his bunk and landed stomach first on the floor with a loud thud for quite the rude awakening.

He let out a strained groan, obviously in pain and flustered with himself over how he got there.

"Ugh, well this can't possibly get any…" He started to strain out.

Well until Owen, still fast asleep from a _food coma_ the night before, also rolled out of his bed and landed right on Noah.

Noah immediately started yelling, though muffled, for help and tapping out on the floor and on Owen's side with his semi-free arm in the Hope's of waking him up to get him off.

But, unluckily for Noah, this was one of Owen's _heavy sleeper_ moments since he was just total dead weight on him.

Noah's yelling for help seemed to have finally woken up Scott, but Scott just looked down at the floor and shrugged before just stretching out and yawning, not even remotely looking bothered to help or care at Noah's plight.

Scott hopped down in his boxers and grabbed his white cut off hanging on the bed post and also putting on his jeans and shoes, still completely ignoring Noah's situation.

Brick finally walked in after his run as he started, "Good morning guys, how's… whoa!"

Brick immediately saw the situation and ran right up before continuing, "Don't worry teammate! Corporal Brick McArthur never leaves a man behind!"

Brick immediately started trying to push to get Owen off of Noah, and being a fairly strong guy, was able to shift Owen off a little until Noah's face was able to show as Noah strained out, gasping for air, "FINALLY!"

Though Brick was continuing to struggle as he said, ever the optimist, "I think I'm getting it! But, we just need a little more muscle. Scott, c'mon, front and center."

Scott, who seemed more concerned with finishing tying his shoes, stood up and said, "Yeah, hard pass, _Sergeant Sap_."

"What the hell man?! Are you serious right now?!" Noah called out, clearly pissed off and borderline enraged with Scott for doing nothing to help. Particularly he was angry since he knew Scott was there the whole time and did absolutely _nothing_.

Scott shrugged and said, pulling out his pocket knife as he started walking out, "Not my problem, _chicken legs_. Figure it out."

Scott walked out of the cabin right as Brick somehow managed to pull Noah out from underneath a still comatose Owen.

Brick extended a helping hand down to Noah as he asked, "Hey, you okay there, soldier?"

Noah grabbed on to Brick's hand to get onto his feet as he responded, still slightly traumatized and very agitated and angry… but not with Owen since that wasn't the first time that happened, "Well pretty sure my entire rib cage is shattered, but otherwise okay. Thanks."

Brick smiled and gave Noah a salute before saying, sounding proud and good natured like he usually does, "Not a problem, Noah! That's what good teammates are for."

Brick then proceeded to sit on his bunk and take off his boots before looking like he was gearing up to head to the showers.

" _Yeah_ , emphasis on 'good'." Noah spat sarcastically and bitterly as he glared out the screen door at Scott leaning against a tree outside as he whittled a stick he picked up with a smirk on his face.

_**Present** _

**(Noah's POV)**

So, yeah, Scott can literally go suck it and get carted back to whatever trash pit backwoods hell he came from at this point as far as I'm concerned.

And you can tell I mean that in the _nicest_ way possible.

But, whatever.

At this point you could say I'm kind of stuck in this vicious circle of blackmail called an alliance. But like I said in the confessional, and probably by far the longest confessional I've done ever, I'm willing to do almost anything it takes to win at this point.

So… if I have to pretty much be in an alliance with Bonnie and Clyde's more mentally twisted equivalents just to get ahead here, so be it.

And not to sound totally cocky here but, I was kind of enjoying the fact I had _both_ Alejandro and Heather under my thumb screws right now.

Not many people could say they were able to underhand both of them simultaneously, but then again I'm also not an idiot and both of them are _very_ well aware of that.

Hey, Heather and I have known each other since we were 16 on season one and she was just lucky our whole team decided to turn against me after the dodgeball challenge, but she _definitely_ knows what I'm capable of just like I do with her.

Then Alejandro… you know, apart from both of us hating each other's guts, he knows just as well as Heather how smart I am.

Also, they knew it was my word against theirs since people are way more likely to believe me than either of them.

Also, just look at me.

Sure my _physicality_ may be _lacking_ since I've never been remotely athletic ever in my life… and nor have I ever had any interest in physical activity in general when it comes to sports in particular, but I have been technically and unintentionally mentally preparing for this kind of situation my whole life.

I grew up the youngest of 9, I have an IQ of 180, and I was never bullied in school once the entire time I was there. All it took was bribing the biggest, angriest, and also stupidest lunk head in my class to practically be my bodyguard at recess in exchange for doing his math homework when all I wanted to do was read undisturbed.

So I dare them to even try to test me.

"Hey Noah, is anything going on? Al and Heather look like they're _really_ mad at you or something." I shot my head next to me at Owen, who was eating Chef's breakfast scramble like it was nothing as per usual, and giving me a confused look.

But I think he saw me, Alejandro, and Heather all glaring at each other so… yeah.

Though I was determined to keep up my end of the deal as I picked up my fork and replied, staying nonchalant, "Don't worry about it, big guy. It's nothing for you to worry about. I got this."

Owen seemed to be satisfied with my response as he went back to eating, but I turned my attention back to Alejandro and Heather.

I took the opportunity to smirk in their direction and I could see Heather especially digging her nails into the table to release her anger, knowing I had them.

_Hey, might as well try to have some fun with it._

_**2 weeks later** _

**(Emma's POV)**

Finally! _That_ didn't just take forever.

I thought I was never going to find that stupid book. Of course, I was being totally scatterbrained and returned it to the university library before taking down all the information I needed for my works cited page for my paper.

So far I feel like all I've done is write papers this semester so far.

But, if there's anything I've learned when it comes to writing college papers… It's almost like an exercise in mental patience and torture.

Like they want to distract you with writing about things that don't matter to distract you from studying the things that actually do.

Either way, writing papers has always been my least favorite academic activity and that's exactly why I am always determined to get them out of my way as soon as humanly possible so I can put more of my time into studying what I actually need to study for my exams.

I decided not to waste my time any further and decided to just take out my phone and take a picture of what I needed from the book.

After I got everything all lined up and was about to take a picture, I heard a snap shot sound… a sound that did _not_ come from my phone.

My body locked up as I felt _something_.

Slowly, I looked over to my left and saw what could've only been a hand holding a phone around the corner of the bookcase behind me for a split second before immediately disappearing once I looked fully in that direction.

Immediately, My eyes went wide in paranoia and fear as I ran over and looked all over to find any sign of anything.

_What… the hell… was that?!_

I looked all over the general area, over the railing to see if anyone down on the main floor looked suspicious, and I looked again in both places.

_Nothing._

I leaned against the railing for a second as I kept trying to collect myself and just think about _everything_. Well particularly whatever the hell _that_ was?!

Seriously?! Who the hell is following me?! And why?!

I felt like I wanted to have a complete breakdown right now but… ugh, I don't know?!

_C'mon Emma. I know you're totally freaked out but what can you do?! You don't even have any solid proof right now other than a celebrity gossip magazine page that would just make you look even more crazy to anyone you'd show at this point._

_Ugh… dammit._

I took a deep breath and decided to just go home.

I walked out of the library and was halfway back to my apartment when I realized the light bulb in my bathroom went out this morning and I _still_ needed to get a new one. As much as I really didn't want to and just wanted to go home, especially after… _whatever the hell that was_ at the library, I had to keep going.

I stopped off at the store and got the light bulb and had to stand a little bit in line behind a few other people.

And considering the person currently in front was this 80 something year old man trying to count out exact change… yeah, I was going to be here a while.

I just started looking around until I realized I was in front of a magazine rack, which at first made me want to kick it over after all the trouble and paranoia these stupid things have cost me… but I held back.

The last thing I need is to be kicked out of a store today.

I was about to roll my eyes and pull out my phone until I saw something that caught my eye.

It was near the bottom of the rack where all the older magazines seemed to be and it had a picture of the full _Total Drama_ cast for this season on the cover, including Noah.

I picked it up and it appeared to be a special edition that was one of those _meet the contestants_ type issues where each person got their own section about themselves.

I scanned through the pages until finally I got to what, or who, I was looking for.

There was a picture of Noah leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and doing his usual smirking eyebrow waggle thing that immediately almost made me go into a full on _Noah daze_ right in the middle of the check out line… and also only reminded me of how much I missed him.

Just like everyone else, he had a full article about himself, but it was finally my turn to check out and as much as I was even shocked by me even doing this, I got the magazine.

_S_ _hut up…_

After that I got back to my apartment and got out my laptop to finish my works cited in an attempt to be productive and try to ignore the fact that I was still sure I was being followed or something.

_Ugh... get it together, Emma._

I just finished up when I saw a notification pop up almost immediately on the screen.

* * *

_Christina Bisset (Mathai) and 2 others have invited you to chat._

* * *

I sighed, seriously contemplating.

After I got home from the race and immediately went on my social media accounts, that I rarely ever used until recently, to look up and connect with Noah; I immediately saw that I had three friend requests that immediately popped up from people who I didn't even know.

I was even going to deny them until I saw a _blatantly obvious_ running trend between them.

They were from three different women.

_Christina Bisset (Mathai), Hannah Patel (Mathai), and Sarah Gregorski (Mathai)._

After feeling like an idiot for a fraction of a second, I realized they all had the same maiden name and had a _very_ obvious resemblance between the 3 of them especially… they _definitely_ were Noah's sisters.

At first I was trying to figure out why they wanted to link up with me, but I figured they were just _curious_ about me and wanted to look into me since I was Noah's girlfriend.

Which is fair because even I admit that as an older sister especially, I always look into the guys that Kitty dates.

Yeah, Kitty has only had 2 serious boyfriends, one from her first year of college that I literally couldn't stand and her high school boyfriend Kyle who I was okay with, but my sister has dated _quite a few_ guys and I do look them up just to make sure they aren't total creeps or bad influences or anything like that.

Anyway, they were Noah's sisters and I didn't want to reject their requests.

Actually, I kind of wanted to make a _really_ good impression since I was surprised they didn't hate me for unintentionally putting their brother in a temporary slump of depression.

But, I didn't question it at this point.

Especially since his sisters actually seemed really... _nice_. Well, particularly Christina.

She was the one who reached out to me first and seemed _really_ eager to get to know me, not that all of his sisters weren't like that in all honesty.

It pretty much got to the point that about a week into messaging, they all started including me in their ' _sisters chat'_ they do once every other week.

But… I've yet to accept and actually talk to them yet.

Mostly because I'm usually busy and two… okay I'm nervous.

I don't know what they're going to say to me or what they want from me?

As I kept looking at the notification and hovering over ' _ignore'…_ I bit my lip and pressed ' _accept'_ before I had any other chance to think about it.

_Okay Emma, get a grip. This is your first chance to make a good impression on Noah's family._

_You can do this!_

I took a deep breath to collect myself and try to straighten myself out as much as possible.

Besides… maybe I can look at this as an opportunity to learn more about Noah? Especially since I can't talk to Noah right now.

I waited as I watched the chat start to buffer and get all four of us synced for the video chat.

_Well, this could get interesting…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter was definitely a bridge chapter for what will happen next. But I do hope you guys in particular enjoyed that look at an interaction between Noah and his 'team'. Particularly how some were more helpful than others, but c'mon Scott's a villain and I could totally see him just leaving someone high and dry like that just because he felt like it… even if now he's on Noah's hit list because of it. Haha. So, who keeps following Emma around? Will Noah's 'alliance' with Alejandro and Heather hold up? What will Noah's sisters tell Emma? Find out next time! As always constructive feedback is always appreciated and just thank you for taking the time to read in general. :)
> 
> Stay Classy everyone!
> 
> Dexter1995

**Author's Note:**

> Oooooh, looks like Emma is trying to take Kitty's advice about staying in the moment and making a move. ;) What will happen next? Wait until next time! Next chapter will be from Noah's perspective which I am really looking forward to. Haha. As a person who works in mostly POV style storytelling, I always try my best to put myself into each character's head and convey them as true as possible to their personality. So I hope I was able to do Emma's perspective justice. Sure Emma can be a bit bossy, overly driven, and a know it all, but Noah's a sarcastic and snarky know it all so… they're great together! You know in my opinion they are anyway. Haha. Anyway, thank you all for reading and constructive reviews are always very much appreciated. Hope you all are staying healthy and safe out there!
> 
> Stay classy!
> 
> Dexter1995


End file.
